Magic Charms
by xNa0m1x
Summary: Magic Charms Meaning The Cereal. The Glee Project. O/C. Romance/Humour/Friendship/Hurt/Comfort
1. Chapter 1

Nicola:

I walk into the house and hear a lot of people shouting in the girls bedroom. I look at the door but go straight to the choir room, which has been modelled to look exactly like the one from the set of Glee. I sit down on the bleachers and just look around. I smile at the place and take my nose piercing out, leaving my upper ear piercing in. I pull my bag back down and stand outside the girls bedroom. I take a deep breath and open the door. All these happy, chirpy teenagers come running at me. "Hi." I say to them and set my things down beside a bed. "Anyone else claimed it?" They shake their heads and we all start introducing each other.

"I am Alex. I am 18 years old and I am from Lynn, Massachusetts." A shortish black boy says, who is sitting on the edge of a bed beside a shortish girl with dark hair.

"I am Emily, I am 22 from New York, New York." The girl beside Alex says to me.

"I am Bryce, I am 22 years old from Westlake Village, California." A tall boy says.

"I am Matheus, I am 19 from Sao Paulo, Brazil." A short guy says to me.

"I am Cameron, I am 21 from Fort Worth Texas." A tall guy with geeky glasses says.

"I am McKynleigh, I am 19 years old from Paducah Kentucky." Says a tall, skinny girl lying beside Bryce.

"I am Lindsay, I am 19 from Modesto, California." Says a really pretty girl with black hair and very pale skin.

"I am Hannah, I am 19 from Ashville, North Carolina." Says a red haired, freckly girl.

"Hi I am Marissa, I am 19 years old from New York, New York." Says a gorgeous red haired girl, who looks a little like Marilyn Monroe.

"I am Samuel, I am 19 from Los Angeles, California." Says a tall guy with dark sunken eyes, Dreadlocks and really sharp features.

We get to the last boy, who half smiles. "I am Damian McGinty, I am 18 years old from Derry City, Northern Ireland."

I smile and finally open my mouth.

"I am Nicola, Im am 18 years old from Derry, Northern Ireland." I say and Damien smiles. "Thank god, someone who will understand mey." I laugh at him. "So this is it?" They nod and someone knocks the door and we all sit on the beds, Hannah and Marissa sit on the edge of my bed and Robert Ulrich, the casting director of Glee walks in. "Hello final 12." He says to us and we all whoop. He talks to us all and smiles. "Well, we start next monday, which gives you all a week and 3 days to do what you want, get to know each other." We nod and he walks out. The guys start walking out. "Yeah, i need to go unpack." Samuel says and they all walk out. "See you later guys!" we shout and walk back in. We take out our suitcases and start unpacking into our wardrobes and drawers. I put the picture of my family on my bedside locker and walk towards the door. "Where are you going?" I shake my head. "I'm going for a walk." I say and they look at me. "I just need to soak it up." I say and walk into the hall with my ipod playing. I look at the walls and just look into space. I bang into a table and fall. Somebody comes running at me and I see Samuel standing over me. "You ok?" I nod. "Yeah, I wasn't paying any attention." I say. He nods. "Well look next time." he says and pulls me up.

"What do you think?" I look at him. "Surreal." I say and he nods. "I know how you feel." I look down and he has changed into a pair of pink shorts. I look at them. "Pink?" He nods. "Ok, you don't know anything about me and you're going to be mean about what i'm wearing?" I shake my head and he laughs. "There isn't much to know. All you need to know; is that these pink shorts are going to be around for a long time." I nod."You planning on staying then?" He nods at me. "That's the plan." We walk into the girls room and see all the guys and girls in there pyjama's, running around having pillow fights and some people have camera phones videoing it. "Guys, don't post any of that yet, no-one is meant to know who has got through!" Samuel shouts over the noise and I get pyjamas from my room. I go to the bathroom and get changed, I walk out with my clothes, to be pummelled to the ground by pillows. I look up and see them all laughing, they keep hitting me and I grab the pillow from my bed. "Your for it!" I shout at Lindsay and come after her. When we are all exhausted we all lie down on the beds.

"So, what kind of music are you into?" Matheus asks me. I look up. "Rock mostly, Metal, acoustic. Some pop music." They look at me. "What? I don't look like your stereotypical metalhead?" They nod at me. "Where I come from, you don't have friends and like rock music. It's one or the other. Practically no-one listens to rock music from home." They nod. "What about you?" I ask him.

"I'm into basically everything." I nod. Samuel walks in and climbs up on to my bed and sits beside me. "How come we didn't see you last week?" I nod at Alex. "I was on my way here. A plane from Ireland takes about 11hours." Damien nods. "Ano, it's really borin." I nod.

"How long did it take you to get here?" I ask Samuel. "About half an hour." I laugh. "Aren't you lucky." I say and he leans over me and grabs the photo. "You ok Samuel?" I say and he laughs. "Family?" I nod. "Yeah." He looks at it. "Sister?" I shake my head. "Cousin." He nods. "Alright, mom? Dad?" He points to it. "Mum, and step-dad." He nods. "Cool." He leans back over and sets it down. "Do you two know each other?" Cameron asks, looking at me and Damian. "No. He lives in Derry City, I live in Derry." He nods. "You'll eventually understand." Damian says.

We all sit and look around each other. I hold a pillow and wink at Damian and Lindsay. They nod and give everyone else the signal. We all sit up and Samuel sits playing with his hair. "NOW!" I shout. Samuel looks up and everyone comes at him, hitting him with pillows. "Help!" He shouts and I take out my phone and video it. I stop and grab his hand, I pull him out of the pillow fight and he laughs, lying on the floor. I go on twitter. "Pillow fights are the best." I tweet and hit Samuel with a pillow. He grabs it off me and I fall down beside him. "Nice attack." he says to me. "Thanks." He hits me with the pillow again and I pull him up.

He looks me in the eye and smiles. I feel eyes boaring into my back and I turn around. I pull a hair out of my eye and jump back up on my bed. "So, who is all in relationships?" Emily asks. "I am." Cameron says. The rest of us shake our heads. "Everyone else is single then? Great!" Emily says. We nod and it is so warm. "I'm going to go get some water." I say and walk out and find the kitchen. I turn on the tap and hear someone coming behind me. "Hey." I turn around and smile. "Hi Hannah." I say and she smiles.

"Do you miss your home?" She says to me. "Yeah; a little. Do you?" She nods. "It's just first night nerves." She half smiles and I hug her. I take out a glass. "Do you want some water?" She nods. "Yeah thanks." I lift out another glass and hold them under the taps. I give her a glass and we both clink them. "To new chances. Even if we have to leave the place we want to stay for a while." She nods. "Cheers." We laugh and walk back in. A message comes up on the big screen. "Tomorrow you will be revealed to the public. Have a goodnight's sleep and be ready for a lot of press." It says and the guys nod. "Time for bed guys." Alex says and they start getting up. "See ya later." Samuel says to me. "Night." I say and the boys all walk out. We sit up on our beds and talk. "Damian is such a hottie." Lindsay says and they talk about the boys. I nod. "Who do you like Nicola?" I look at them. "I haven't really looked." I say and they laugh. "Yeah right, you are all over Samuel." Marissa says to me and I shrug. "And he is all over you." Emily says. "We have known each other for about two hours." I say and they nod. "Ok then." They say and shrug.

"Can we go to sleep?" I say and they nod, Hannah turns off the light and we go to sleep.

I wake up and see Hannah awake and putting her slippers on. I fix my socks, make my bed and smile at her. We get up and go to the bathroom and clean our teeth. "Morning." I say to her. She nods. "Good morning." She smiles and we walk back into our room. We get clothes and I hear some of the guys moving. They all come running. "Wake Up!" Bryce shouts and the girls all jump up and shout at them. I walk out with my clothes and get changed. I walk back in and see Samuel lying on top of my bed in his pink shorts. "Are you guys not going to get dressed?" I say to the room full of pyjama clad guys and girls. They nod and start getting ready. Hannah and I walk back into the kitchen and Damian walks in with Samuel and Cameron who are dressed, finally. "Hey guys." I say to them and Damian opens the cupboard. He lifts out a box of cereal and sets it on the counter. Samuel lifts it and reads a sticky note on it. "So that Nicola and Damian feel at home, from Robert Ulrich." He says and we look at the cereal. Magic Charms. Hilarious.

"Why?" Damian asks. "It's because they have little Irish leprechauns on the box." He nods and starts laughing. "You guys want some?" Cameron says, taking bowls from the cupboard and we nod. Samuel sits in front of me and Damian and Cameron sit opposite each other. "Milk would help." I say and grab some from the full-to-the-top fridge. I hand it to Samuel and he pours it into his cereal, he passes it back and I give it to the other guys and take a spoonful, of the crunchy cereal and smile. "It's better than I thought." I say when I finish the mouthful. "You haven't had them before?" Samuel says to me and I shake my head. "Nope. We don't have them in Ireland." Damian nods. "Not too bad actually." He says and everyone walks in and gets something to eat. When we are done we all clean our own bowls and cups and put them away.

Samuel is now wearing a blue blazer-like top that has no arms, a blazer vest? and Damian is wearing a white shirt, with little green dots in square patterns. Alex is wearing a purple sweater with a scarf, Cameron is wearing a brown shirt with a purple tie (Alex is saying that they will clash, but Cameron doesn't really care.) Matheus is wearing a blue shirt with a green tie (Do you see Samuel or Damian complaining that they will clash? No, of course not.) Bryce is wearing a black t-shirt and his grey beanie hat with jeans. Lindsay is wearing a yellow sweater and a cute skirt (Very Rachel Berry if you ask me) Emily is wearing a purple t-shirt with a pair of white shorts. (Alex is going to kill her when he notices three of them are wearing purple.) MyKynleigh is wearing a cream top and brown trousers (Which looks alot like something Quinn once wore on glee- are we supposed to dress like the characters?) Hannah is wearing a dark purple t-shirt with dark jeans (We convinced Alex it is violet, he is still panicking though) Marissa is wearing a green dress with a grey shrug. Me? I'm wearing a blue dress with blue heels that have little diamante's on the side of the heels. We sit in the choir room and Robert Ulrich walks in. "Well haven't you all pretty-ified yourselves?" He says. "Now everyone get in pairs and form a line. We are filming you all walking out the front of the house and then you will be going to the good morning America studios." Samuel nods at me and I walk over to him. "Blue with Blue?" I look around. "But Matheus already has a partner." I say and he hits my arm. "Be my partner?" I nod. "Sure." I say and we stand together at the end of the line.


	2. Chapter 2

"I haven't even watched it before." I whisper to Samuel and he nods. "Me Neither!" Damian shouts to me from the other end of the line and I nod. "Well at least I didn't say it in the studio!" I say to Samuel. He laughs and a camera crew burst in and run around us. We walk out and smile and laugh. "Here we go." Samuel says to me. I nod. "I'm scared." He nods. "Don't be, it's just a couple million people that watch it." I hit him and he nods. "Yeah, I Deserved that." I smile and we all stop.

"Presenting the contestants of THE GLEE PROJECT, CLASS OF SEASON 1!" Robert Ulrich shouts and we all stand together. We strike a pose for the paparazzi and Samuel puts his arm around me. We all smile. "Samuel, Nicola, Hannah, Cameron, Lindsay, Alex, MyKynleigh, Bryce, Marissa, Damian, Emily and Matheus!" He shouts and we all do the 'gLee' pose. We see people screaming and smile. "Hi!" I say to one little girl as we go towards the limo. "I was hoping you got through!" She shouts back and I smile. "Thanks." I say to her and Samuel looks at me. "A girl that is about 10 just said I was hot." I nod. "Go get her tiger." I wink and he laughs. We get into the limo.

"Well that was crazy." MyKynleigh says to us. "And they haven't even heard us sing yet." Cameron says. We sit back in our seats and it stops. "We can't be here yet." Emily says and the door opens. Robert Ulrich gets in, beside Alex and Lindsay. "How was that?" He asks us. "Scary." I say and he smiles. "It's just the beginning." he says to me and Samuel rubs my back. "It's going to be fine." I smile. "Thanks." Robert looks at a sheet. "So you all got the sheet to show you what you are singing?" We nod. Firework, By Katy Perry. He nods. "Well, we will do a quick rehearsal before we go on, and then you go out, sing it and then do the interview." We nod and Samuel smiles at me. "Ok guys, you need these." He hands out passes and we put them around our necks.

We get out to be greeted by more paparazzi. We smile quickly and walk inside in our line again, we go through security and are put into a room, Robert Ulrich walks somewhere and we all just nod at each other. He walks back in and quickly puts us into place. We go through it quickly with very little choreography, which apparently is 'Perfect' for our first performance ever. Damian nods at me. "Y'ready?" I nod. "This isn't the county finals no more." He nods. "You got that right." We stand together at the edge of the stage. "Good luck" Samuel says to me and I nod. "You too." He winks and they call us. "In 5 guys." Robert Ulrich says and we all get ready. "Please Welcome The Contestants Of The Glee Project! Who are going to perform Firework by Katy Perry!" We all walk out and stand in place and sing it, my nerves quickly disappearing.

When we finish, we all go to sit on the couch, but there isn't enough room, they cut to a break and bring another one in, I sit between Bryce and Alex. "Let me start off by saying hello and welcome to Good Morning America. You guys are the final 12, out of 40,000 people, how does that feel?" Lindsay smiles. "Amazing." We nod. "Now, three of you are actually not from America." Damian, Matheus and I nod. "I am from Sao Paul, Brazil." Matheus says. "And I am from Derry City, Northern Ireland." Damian says. "And I am from County Derry, Northern Ireland." I say. She nods. "So you are both from the same place?" Cameron and Samuel half laugh. "It's a bit like living in a miniature Los Angeles y'know, you're from the same area, but you don't know each other." She nods at Damian. "You have a very strong accent, where as you don't Nicola." I smile. "I have an accent that is alot like Damian's, because we are from the same area, but mine is like, not as heavy." She nods. "So you all got into the house last night, how was it getting to see everyone again?" Hannah nods. "It was really good seeing each other again, but we hadn't met Nicola and Damian because they had been on a flight here when we were getting to meet each other, so it was pretty cool having two more people to meet." She says. "Filming hasn't even started yet? is that right?" We nod. "Yeah, we start filming in a week and two days, which we are all excited for and it is going to be great." Bryce says. "Is there anyone in the group that you feel you can relate to or that you feel you are really going to get on with?" We all half nod. "I think we are all getting on alot better than I thought we would have. I think I am really going to get on with the likes of Damian, Cameron and Nicola, I think we all get on quite well." Samuel says and I smile at him.

"MyKynleigh?" She nods. "The girls and Bryce, but really we all get along, we haven't exactly got little cliques yet, we are all kind of getting on and finding out about each other." She nods and we all smile. "Is there anyone out of all of you that actually shocked you when they came in?" They all nod and suddenly all eyes go on me. I clear my throat and smile. "Hi." I say and they all laugh. "Nicola is a self-professed metalhead, who likes rock music, which we really didn't expect, since she came into the house with a pink t-shirt and a very girly skirt." Marissa says and I look down and shake my head smiling. "Uhm yeah, I mean, I like music with a lot of feeling and I don't think we always get that from the pop media culture we live in today." She nods. "And you are trying to win a part on Glee?" She snips back. "Glee has a lot of issues raised in it and a lot of meaningful songs and I still like RnB and Pop, but if I had to choose, I would be doing the likes of Rock music, it's just what I am into." She nods and continues, after another 5 minutes she turns around and looks at the monitor, before looking back at us. "Well thank you guys, the show starts, in two weeks?" We nod. "And goodluck." We nod. "Thank you" We wave and all walk out.

We walk back into the waiting room and here the music playing for the break. She walks in. "Well Done, and good luck." She says to us and she walks out. We sit and wait on Robert Ulrich and Samuel moves over beside me.

"How was that?" I nod. "Alright." I look out at everyone, "Yeah, thanks for sticking me in that guys!" They all laugh. "Sorry." I smile and Samuel turns around to me on the bench. "It was better than I expected." He says and I nod. "So what's wrong with the rest of us Samuel?" Lindsay asks, half smiling. "You said you were going to get on well with Cameron, Damien and Nicola!" He tries to make words come out, but they are staying where they are. They all laugh. I smile at him. "That was scary." I say and he rubs the side of my arm. "Get used to it." I smile. "Ok, Pink shorts." I say and he laughs.

Robert Ulrich walks in. "Well done guys." He says. "There will be some fans out front who want to get pictures and stuff with you, so please take some time to talk to them before you get back in the limo." We nod and he gives us all Sharpie markers. "Ok guys, let's go." He says and we all walk out, we see a lot of screaming fans and start taking pictures with them, they give me random items; paper, t-shirts and a pair of pink glasses to sign. Alex is first to get in the limo but we all stay behind. "Hi, my friend wanted to meet you, but she was sick, would you mind recording a little thing for her?" I shake my head. "Sure, what's her name?" She smiles. "Sophie." I nod. "Who else does she like?" The girl smiles. "Lindsay and Cameron." I nod. "two seconds." I walk over to them and we all walk back over, she holds up a video camera. "Hi Sophie, it's Cameron, Lindsay and Nicola from the glee project." Cameron says. "Sorry you couldn't come out and meet us today, that totally sucks." Lindsay says. "We just wanted to say, get well soon and we hope you enjoy the glee project when it starts in a few weeks, so yeah, peace out." I say and the girl smiles. "Thank you so much."

We nod and move on down. I bang into Damian. "Hey." I say and sign a girls t-shirt. "Your the Irish kids!" Someone says to us and we nod. "Yeah." We laugh and take a few pictures together. "Who else is in the limo?" I ask him. "Emily, Matheus, Bryce and MyKynleigh." I nod and walk on down. "See you in a bit." I say and sign more autographs. "Nicola" I turn around and see Samuel calling me. I finish signing a The Glee Project poster and smile "Hey." I say to him. "She wants to take a picture of us together." I nod. "Ok." I stand beside him and smile, He wraps his arm around my back and I put my hand on his shoulder. "Hot!" Damien shouts. We laugh at him.

I sign more autographs and more people get in the limo. "We need to go soon." He nods, people have been leaving. My sharpie runs out and I walk over to the limo. "Can I borrow a Sharpie?" Emily gives me hers and I pop my head back out. I walk back over to Damian, Cameron, Marissa, Lindsay and Samuel. We all stand together and get some pictures taken. I slap Damian. "That's for earlier." I say and he laughs. I keep signing and Marissa gets back in the limo with Cameron.

There are about 50 people left. We keep signing and Lindsay gets in, soon followed by Damian. We sign the last few autographs and wave. "Well that was fun." I say and we get back into the limo. "You guys took your time." We smile. "We wanted to get around everyone." I say and we sit up. We are driven back to the house and are called into the choir room. "We are now going to do your interviews, where you tell the public a little bit about yourselves." We nod and one by one we go into a room and say our piece. My turn.

"Ok, just tell us about your self Nicola." Robert Ulrich says to me and I sit down on the chair.

"I am Nicola McDowney. I am 18 years olds, from County Derry Northern Ireland, and I am one of the final 12 on The Glee Project, like." I say and a 'whoosh' sound plays. "I like rock music, I am a self-professed metal head and I love Glee, like. Which people like, do not expect at all. I grew up in a little town in Derry and watched Glee from when it began. I wanted to be part of it. Now I am getting the chance I always dreamed of." I say and he nods. I put my hand to my head and make the gLee sign. Robert Ulrich nods and shouts cut. "That was great." I smile and walk back out to the guys.

Samuel hands me a page. "What's this?" He nods. "The song for the first week." I nod. "Individuality week." I say as I read the chalk board and he nods. "Yeah." We all sit on the bleachers. "Signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours." We start practicing and move about and put some kind of moves to it. When we finish Alex goes over it again and again. I get up and walk back into the girls room. I sit up on my bed and Marissa is sitting with Samuel. "Hey guys." I say and walk back out with my jeans and a T-shirt. I get changed and hang my dress back up in the wardrobe. Samuel walks out and Marissa smiles at me. "What?" I say to her. "He likes you." I nod. "Yeah, we're friends." She nods. "Ok." I nod and Hannah walks in with Emily. "Hi guys." I smile. "You hungry?" I say to them and they half nod. I walk out and into the choir room. "You hungry?" They nod. "I'll help." Samuel says to me. "Ok, Pink shorts." I say and he laughs. "You need a nickname." I nod. "Ok." I say and start taking the chicken out of the freezer and peppers and onions. "Cut those up pink shorts?" He nods and I smile. "So, how are you?" He says to me. "Good." I say and smile. "You?" He nods. "Yeah, having fun?" He says and puts the peppers and onions in the pan with the cooking chicken. "Why are you acting weird?" I ask him. "I'm not." I laugh. "You are." I say and poke him. "Don't poke me." He says and pokes me back. I start laughing. "What? are you ticklish?" I near burst and end up on the floor. "Ha ha I ha need to hahaha check hahahahahaha the ha chicken!" He lets go of me and Lindsay leans against the door with Bryce and Mykynleigh. "Hey guys." Samuel says and helps me up. I fix my hair and stir the stir fry.

Lindsay smiles and Bryce nods. "Ok." Lindsay says and they all walk out. "Guys, you might want to get your phones out. The chefs in the kitchen are like, 5 seconds away from making out!" MyKynleigh shouts and he takes rice out of the cupboard, everyone runs in and stares at us. "Hi guys." I say and Samuel half nods. "Is there any good clothes shops around here?" He nods. "Yeah, there is a few about 10 minutes away." I nod. "I might just check them out tomorrow." He nods. "Yeah, I'll show you." I nod. "Sounds great." I say back and take out plates. He spreads out the rice and I put some stir fry on ever plate. "Here you go." I say and they all sit around the table. Samuel sits in front of me and we eat. "This is good." Alex says. Samuel smiles at me. "Not to bad guys." Hannah says and I get kicked in the shin by Samuel. I kick him back and he laughs. "You ok Samuel?" Cameron says and he nods. "Yep, fine." He says and kicks me back. We both go to kick each other at the same time but our legs touch and we both smile, putting our legs back on the stools.

Damian and Lindsay smile at me. "Practice after dinner?" Alex says and we all kind of look at him. "I was hoping to just chill out in my room for a while." I say to him and he nods. "Ok, Nicola is out. The rest of you in?" Marissa, Samuel and Damian shake their heads. "Yeah I think we will just hang out to." Damian says. Alex nods. "Does anyone want to practice?" They all shake their heads. "Well you know where I'll be." He says. "We'll do the washing up." Bryce and MyKynleigh say. We smile. I finish my food and put the plate in the sink. I turn on my ipod and get about a million messages from Twitter. I sit on my bed in the empty room. I turn on the video camera.

"Hey guys. So, I guess you have all heard that I made it into the final 12 of the glee project, which is really cool. We filmed some opening sequence stuff today and went on good morning America, which was undoubtfully the scariest thing I have done yet. So yeah, that's all I gotta say really, we did a signing outside of the studio, so if you have any pictures of us or anything, I would love to see them, just tweet them to me NicolaMcDowneyTGP and we will take it from there." I say and go to hit the button. My bed bounces. "And you can follow me SamuelLarsenTGP Samuel says and I laugh at him. "Oh, I got your nickname by the way." I look at the screen and back at him. "What is it?" He nods. "Miss T." I look at him. "Miss Ticklish." I laugh. "Such a nerd." I say. "Yeah, but my fans love me." I poke him. "What fans?" I say and he makes a shocked expression. "Meanie." He pokes me back. "Well, this is Nicola." "And Samuel, Peace out!" He says and switches is off. "Nerd." He laughs. "There is nothing wrong with being a nerd!" We look over at Cameron and burst out laughing. Samuel gets up. "I need to change." I nod at him and he walks out with Cameron. I quickly change as well, he walks back in with his pink shorts on and I laugh. Damien walks in with Marissa and they lie on the bottom of my bed. "What do you want to do?" They shrug. "Play pool?" I smile. "Yeah, I can't." I say and laugh. "But you guys can." I say and Damian looks at me. "Oh my god. Your Irish and you can't play pool?" I look at him. "And I try to get rid of these stereotypes and of course another Irish kid has got to prove them." They laugh. "I'll help you." I nod at Samuel. "Ok." We get up. "Ok, you can break." Samuel says to Marissa and she does, potting no balls. "Go." She says to me and I lean over the table. He stands beside me and fixes my hand. "Line it up, pull it back." He pulls it back with me. "And shoot." He says and lets go. I pot a red spot and jump. "We did it!" I say and he nods. "Yeah, you did." I smile and we look each other in the eye. "Either make out, or play pool." We give him a dirty look and I walk over to him. I lean the cue against the table and Damian stares at me. I smack him. "No more." He nods. "Yes ma'am." I nod. "Or else i'll clip your ear." He nods and I take my cue and miss it. "Your turn." I say to Damien and he misses it. Samuel takes his turn and pots three. "Show off in pink shorts." I say and he laughs.

(10 Minutes Later)

I pot the black ball and Samuel hugs me. "We won." I smile and stick my tongue out at Damian. He laughs and Marissa takes out a piece of paper. "Damian and Marissa: 0 Samuel and Nicola: 1" She says and sticks it to the wall. I lie back up on my bed and start looking through pictures that they have tweeted me, I save the good ones and get to the one of me and Samuel. "Look." I say and show it to him. "Nice." He says and takes my ipod from me. "What are you doing?" He smiles. "Emailing it to my cell." I nod. "Ok." He hands me back my ipod and I smile.


	3. Chapter 3

(The next day)

I get up and stare at my cell. I nod. I walk into the Choir room and type in my home number. It will be 3am there. I listen to the rings. It goes to answer machine and I nod. "Hey guys. Well I just wanted to tell you that I got here safe. that it is going good, that I get on with everyone, i'm safe. I am having fun and I have already been on TV. youtube Good Morning America TGP and you will find it. It's 3am there. It's 9am here. So basically ring me between 3am and 4pm your time, that will be 9am and 12am my time. Well I got to go, I think I hear someone, love you. talk soon." I say and hang up. I smile at my cell and walk into the corridor to be greeted by Samuel and Bryce. "Listening in?" I say to them and fold my arms.

"Not on purpose." I nod. "But you didn't walk away?" I say shaking my head. Samuel looks down and Bryce nods. "Sorry." I nod. "Please don't listen in." I say and walk back to my room, to see them all waking up and getting clothes ready for the day ahead. I brush my teeth and fix my hair into a ponytail. I put on a pink t-shirt and black skirt with my sandals. I sit on my bed and stare at my cell. I get a small bag and put my ipod in it, along with my cell and purse. "You guys coming?" They shrug. "I'll go." Marissa says. "Yeah." Emily says. I nod. "Any of you guys want to go?" They shake their heads. "Were good. Alex will probably want to practice." I smile. "Good luck." And walk out with Marissa and Emily. "Hey!" Emily says bursting into the kitchen, with us following her. We see Bryce and Cameron with Damien. "Are you guys coming shopping?" Damian and Cameron nod, while Bryce shakes his, "I need to practice." I nod. "Fair enough." I say, my cell starts ringing. "Two seconds guys." I say and walk to the choir room. Samuel is sitting in the back row practicing. I answer the phone to a very excited mum.

"HEY SWEETIE!" I laugh at her and Samuel looks up. "Hey mum." I say with a smile. Samuel gets up. "I'll go." I shake my head. "It's fine." I say grabbing his arm and he looks down at my hand holding his arm. I flinch and realise I am still on the phone. "It's good. Yeah everyone is nice. Good Morning America? It Was An Experience." Samuel laughs. "Yeah we signed some autographs after it. You seen pictures?" I say and smile. "Who Is The Guy You Are With?" I laugh. "That's Samuel. He is sitting beside me actually." I say with a smile. "Plans for today? We are going out with some of the guys and girls shopping and get breakfast. Just soak it all up and then practice this evening. Ok. I Love You To. Tell Everyone I Was Thinking About Them. Bye Mum." I say and he smiles. "She has seen the pictures already?" I nod. "Most of my family got twitter and only follow us and TGP producers in case we have pictures taken. they are nerdy like that." I say and he smiles. "You guys ready?" Cameron says to us and we look up.

"Yeah, coming." I say with a smile. We get up and they continue walking ahead of us. "About the mixed messages." I say to him. "You don't have to explain." I nod. "I do." He nods. "Ok?" I smile and take a deep breath. "My mum was a single parent to just me. She was 17 and my dad left before I was born. I don't trust people easily. Even though it seems like I do. I don't." He nods and half smiles. "I get you. Bryce was the one who wanted to listen in, after I said to walk on." I nod. "Ok." I say and he pokes me. "Don't start." I squeal and they all turn around to see him tickling me. "Get a room." Emily shouts and I laugh at her. We walk up and I jump Damian. "I'm not a hay bale." I laugh at him and we walk through the kitchen. "See you later guys." I say and they nod. "Bye." They say and we walk out together.

We get into a big taxi. "Where do you want to eat?" I shrug. "The only thing I know you guys have here is McDonalds. and that is because they come from here." They laugh. "Ok, how about we try Roo?" Samuel says and we all half nod. he gives the driver directions and we go into Roo. We order a typical breakfast and when the waiter comes over Samuel looks at us. He points at each of us. "47. 64. 39. 18. 55. 5. 1." He says pointing at me. The waiter nods and we give him a funny look. "You'll see." We laugh and a little girl walks over to us with her mom. "Are you fwom the Gwee Pwoject?" We nod and smile. "Can woo sign fis for mwe?" We nod and she hands us a poster. we pass it around the table with the pen the mother gives us. "Can she get a picture with you two?" The mother says to me and Samuel and we nod. "Sure." I say and get up. I lean down beside her and Samuel turns around in his seat. "1, 2, 3." We smile and the mother thanks us. The little girl kisses my cheek and skips away. "Aww." I say and Damian looks in a huff. "She didn't want to kiss my cheek." He says and Lindsay and Marissa kiss his cheeks and I take a picture of them. Our breakfast arrives along with some smoothies. "Thank you." We say and all taste them. "That is really good." Lindsay says and I nod. "Yeah." He smiles. "I have a knack for this kind of stuff." He says and we smile.

We eat our breakfast and all chip in for the bill. We walk out and all go our seperate ways into shops. I buy a pair of pink shorts and Samuel walks in while they pass me the bag. "What did you buy?" I shrug. "you'll see." He laughs and we walk into a surf shop. I look at the surf boards. "We don't have the weather for this at home." I say and he nods. We keep shopping and bang into Marissa, Damian and Cameron. "Where is Emily?" They point at a shop that has very little clothing on the models. I walk in. "Yeah, lets go." I say to her. "Come on." She nods and we walk out.

I see a rock N roll shop and plaster a massive cheesy smile on my face. "Go on." Cameron says and I walk in. I go straight to the jewellery. I look at all the pieces and lift out a necklace, it has a small clear bottle and inside is red glitter with a small tag that says 'poison' on the side. I set it back down and walk out. "Did you not get anything?" Marissa asks. "I'll go in another day." I say and we walk down a street, to be ambushed by about 100 young, screaming girls. They quickly give us paper and posters to sign. We smile for pictures and they all walk away, continuously waving back, one runs back up to us. "Are you guys dating?" Some girl asks me. "Sorry?" I say to her. "You and Samuel? Are you dating?" We shake our heads. "No. We are just good friends." He says and we smile. "That's it." I say and we all walk back down the street.

We see a taxi and get in. Cameron gives him directions and we go back to the house. "What did you buy?" Emily asks me and I open the bag to show her. She smiles. "Nice." She laughs and we get in. "Hey." We say and see them all in practice clothes. Samuel nods. "I'm going to go get changed." Samuel says. "Me too." I say. I walk into the girls dorm and get changed into my new pink shorts and a brown t-shirt. I walk back out and Lindsay has my ipod, filming. Samuel walks out of his dorm and sees me. He starts laughing. "Nice shorts." I smile. "Oh, these?" He nods. "Your funny, Miss T." He says and starts tickling me. I start laughing and he ends up, on top of me on the floor. "Ok! Stop! Stop! hahahahaha STOP!" He stops and looks at me. I smile and he has his hands on my arms. I grab his arms and flip over, so that I am on top of him. I start tickling him and he laughs. "Ok. Ok. hahaha Ok. You proved your hahaha point. aha." I nod. "Good." I get up and pull him up. Lindsay is still standing recording. "Live stream to twitter guys." I go towards her and grab my ipod. "Yeah, thanks." She laughs and we walk into the choir room


	4. Chapter 4

Cameron takes a picture of us in our pink shorts and we start practicing. When we are done, we walk out and Samuel nods at me to go into the boys dorm. He points to his bed and I sit up on it with my ipod. Alex walks in and Samuel walks out. Awkward. He sits on the edge of Samuel's bed and we are the only ones in the room. "I was wondering why you don't want to practice." I nod. "Because we have a week and a day before we perform it." He nods. "So we should practice." I shrug. "If we practice too much then it will be too perfect. We are not on Glee. We are on The Glee Project. We are meant to be ourselves and keep it real. How do we do that if we are too focused on the actual performance, we aren't going to be ourselves." He nods. "What if one of us forgets our lines? We will be standng there in front of Robert Ulrich and one of the stars of Glee. You want someone to make an ass of themselves because you didn't want to be too focused? maybe your just too laid back." I nod.

"Maybe I am. But If you can remember, I was the most scared for yesterday, Live on Good Morning America. None of us forgot any words and we were ourselves." He nods. "Whatever." He says and pouts. "Pouting doesn't work on me." I say and go to walk out. "Excuse me?" I turn around. "You heard me. You say your a diva. Diva doesn't work on me. So you can pout and you can do what you want and you can boss the others around, but not me Alex. I'm not that easy." I say and go to walk out when Samuel stops me. "Where are you going?" I nod. "My dorm." He has two cans of coke. Shame to leave him really. But i'd rather be by myself than take it out on someone. What I said to Alex was tough enough.

"Hey, are you ok?" I nod at Bryce. "Yeah, just had a little argument with Alex." He nods. "About time someone did." I smile and go to my dorm. "I thought you were gonna chill with Samuel?" I shrug. "Yeah, I was, but I don't wanna take my mood out on anyone." Alex comes though, stomping and cross. "I'll talk to you later." I say and he nods. I walk into the dorm and see Lindsay and Emily with Marissa. "Hey girls." They smile. "Whats up?" They shrug and show me the video from earlier. I nod. "He so likes you." I laugh at them. "Even if he did, and that's a big if. He won't now. I blew him off." They shrug. "Go get him." I laugh. "And look desperate?" They nod. "It's up to you what you do then , But we are going to practice." I nod. "Alex has you guys brainwashed too?" They laugh and I put my head phones in.

I sit and look at twitter, i reply to some tweets and smile. "You and Samuel Were SO CUTE TODAY! xoxoxo" I laugh at it and reply. "Nice meeting you, hope you enjoy TGP! x" I tweet back and keep tweeting. Samuel walks in with Damian. "Hey." I smile at them. "Hey guys." I say and look up Damian is now drinking my coke. I look at him and he laughs. "I tried to keep a straight face." He says to Samuel and they smile, Damien lies across the bottom of my bed and Samuel sits up beside me. "What are you doing?" I smile. "Replying to tweets." He nods. "More fun than hanging out with me, huh?" I laugh. "I pissed Alex off and didn't want to piss anyone else off." He smiles and Damian nods. "Your too considerate to be Irish." I laugh at him. "Or just to considerate." Samuel says and I smile. "Oh My God. Would you two please just make out!" We laugh at him. "we're just friends." I say and Samuel nods. "Yeah, just friends." Damian nods. "And I'm the Taoiseach." I laugh at him. Samuel looks at us. "It's like, the president of Ireland." I say to him. He nods. "Ok." I laugh at him. "How is Alex?" They nod. "Sulking." Samuel says. "Slagging you off." Damian says and I look at him. "What?" He nods. "He is saying mean things about you." I nod. "Great." I say. "You aren't going to fight back?" I shake my head. "He can call me what he wants. I don't really care." They nod. "Well Lindsay and Marissa are sticking up for you." I smile. "I better go give the dog a bone." I say and get up. Samuel looks at us. "She means go argue with Alex because that's what he wants." Samuel nods. "Fair play." They get up and I pull my hair into a bun.

"She was really bitchy and all like, Diva doesn't work on me." He says to them and I smile. "Cause it doesn't Alex." I say and he turns around. "At least i'm being myself." I nod. "What makes you think i'm not being myself?" He shrugs. "The fact you're hanging out with four others and not your self? Because three of them are boys? Or is that just who you are?" I nod. "Ohh Burn. I get on with them. Thats not my fault." He nods. "And don't even say whatever to me." I say and he turns back around. "Excuse me?" I smile. "You'll say whatever, I'll walk out and you can bitch about me? Yeah, not gonna happen. I have been myself and we are only two days in. You just want an argument because there is not enough drama here for you." I say and walk out. I run down the hall to the bathroom and lean against the door.

_Oh. Shit. What. Have. I Done. Great. Everyone will hate me, nice one Nicola, very smooth._ Tears start coming down my cheeks_. Now you're crying, wow how great. and here comes that homesickness too. Yep. You should have stayed In Ireland and out of the competition Nicola. _I say to myself. I go into the bathroom and get some toilet roll. I rub away the tears and look at myself in the mirror. The door opens and I see Cameron and Hannah. "Hey." I say to them. "You ok?" I nod. "Great. Never been better." they smile. "Yeah, so Alex is going crazy." I nod. "I shouldn't have took into him. Cameron looks up. "Oh no, he deserved it." I laugh at him and he fixes his hair in the mirror. "I mean come on, he basically said that you were after the guys in here." I nod. "And you have a girlfriend." I say to Cameron. "You're not my type anyway." I nod. "Yep, helping me loads right now." I say and a tear runs down my cheek. "I mean, your pretty, but your more like a friend." I nod. "That's all I want to be." Someone knocks the door. "Come in." I say and Samuel walks in. "Hi." I say and he nods. "hey." He wraps his arms around me and hugs me. I smile and stop to laugh at my self. "You ok?" I nod. "Yeah." He keeps his arm around me and Cameron nods at him. "Of course." Cameron says and he walks out. "What he said." Hannah says and follows him. I laugh at them and turn around to him.

"I miss home." I say and he smiles at me. "I get it." I laugh. "You live half an hour away. I live half a day away." He nods. "I know. I don't think we're in Kansas anymore Toto." I laugh at him. "Toto? Yeah, that'll be your nickname. Miss T sounds pretty stupid." I nod. "Sure. Pink shorts." He looks down at his shorts." One to talk." I laugh and look at my pink shorts. "Whatever." I say and flick my hair. He laughs and we walk back out and go towards the choir room.

"They finally made out." Emily says, pointing to his arm around me. "We did not make out." I say and smile. "Where's Alex?" I ask them. "Boys Dorm." I nod. "i'll sort it out tomorrow. I'm to tired right now." I say and we sit down in the back corner. "I'm tired." I say and he nods. "To bad Toto. We need to work on this song." He says and I grab a song sheet from beside me and we practice. My ipod bleeps with a message from twitter. "It might as well be official. Nicola & Samuel are SOO! Together! 2 weeks till I see them on screen? Shoot me now." I look at him and he half smiles. "We have some dedicated fans." I say and Damian looks up. "No kidding. Look what wetpaint did!" I look up and he passes us his ipod with a video.

"Hello Gleeks i'm Jager Weatherby from and I have some news on the up and coming The Glee Project. -Relationship news that is! We've heard of Puckleberry and Finchel- But could it be time for Samola? Not Sam Evans and an exchange student if that's what your thinking. No, I am talking Samuel Larsen and Nicola McDowney from The Glee Project. Which hits our screens in two weeks. We found out who our final 12 are. At a signing after their performance on Good Morning America, Samuel and Nicola stood together for a photo together, where she casually put her arm on his shoulder and he put his arm around her back, and for those not familiar with the photo, here it is. How hot is that? and they only knew each other for less than 24 hours. Reports from the house today, including a video, posted by Lindsay on Nicola's twitter shows the pair of them laughing and at one stage, on top of each other. How hot. So is there a romance on the way? Watch this space and there twitters to find out!"

I look at it in shock and look at him. He laughs and so do I. "Hey guys, you ready for us to whoop your asses?" Marissa and Damien say to us. "You can try but we know you'll lose." I smile and we get up and he takes his arm off me. We walk to the girls dorm and play a game of pool.

"We whooped your asses, and we did it good!" Damien says. "So its a draw." I say and we sit up on my bed. "I'm going to go to bed." Damian says with a yawn. "Yeah, i'll go to." Samuel says and gets up. "Night guys." I say and they walk out. "Are you still denying that he likes you?" I nod. "He doesn't." She looks at me. "We were all sitting in the choir room and he got up to make sure you were ok, when you didn't cme back straight away with Cameron and Hannah." I smile. "Really?" She nods. "He said, "I'll see if she is ok" not them, Not the guys, you." I nod. "He was just being a good friend." I say and change into my pyjamas, so does she. "Goodnight Marissa." She nods. "Goodnight Nicola." She says and I turn the light off.


	5. Chapter 5

I get up and walk into the choir room to see Alex. "Hi." I say and he nods. "Hey." He says back and I take a seat beside him. "We can keep arguing and have a full flung fight which will get us both bad names when the show is being aired. Or, we can call a truce and forget?" He nods. "Second option." I smile and he hugs me. "I'm sorry I said you were after every guy here." I smile. "I'm sorry I said you were trying to control everyone." He smiles. We walk out and I see Damien with Lindsay and Marissa. "So?" I hold Alex's hand. "So, we're getting married." He says to them in a serious voice and we all burst out laughing. "Yeah, we made up." They nod and they all walk on down the corridor. "Morning Toto." I smile. "Morning Pink Shorts." He smiles. "Did you sort everything out with Alex?" I nod. "All sorted." He nods. "Good." I nod and we walk in for breakfast. Everybody starts walking in and all sit around the table. "Morning." I say to Hannah and Emily. We finish breakfast and start practicing.

Sunday. One Week Later.

I get up and eat breakfast with Samuel and Damien. "This is it guys." Damien says to us. "Tomorrow we start." I nod, "Please don't freak me out again." I say and they laugh. We finish eating and get dressed, We sit together in the choir room and I smile. "This is actually happening." They laugh. "Have you been awake the past week?" I poke Samuel. "We went a week without being poked. A week." I laugh and he pokes me back. Everyone walks in after getting changed and we start practicing, after a three hour re-run, Robert walks in. "Hello guys." He says to us. "Hello." We say and Samuel kicks my chair. "So tomorrow you start filming, for the most part, just be yourselves, don't act different, just be yourselves." We nod and I turn on my ipod and take a video.

"Well guys. It's me. We start filming tomorrow, which is very exciting if not a little scary." "ALOT!" Damien shouts in the background and we all laugh. "So yeah, I just wanted to check in, one final time before we start filming and well, that's all I have to say, I love you. Goodbye and peace out!" I say and switch it off. "We are going out for a while." Bryce says, with Hannah, Alex, Matheus and MyKynleigh. "You wanna go Samuel?" He nods. "Sure." He gets up and Bryce looks back at me and Damien. "Come on guys." He says with a smile and we get up. We all walk out together and walk down the street. Paparazzi walk beside us and one of their cameras gives off a bright flash which shocks me and I stumble forward, both Samuel and Bryce grab my arms. "Easy." I smile at them and they let go of me. We keep walking and Bryce points to Roo. Damian, Samuel and I laugh. "Sure." We say and all walk in. Samuel grabs the seat beside me and he takes out his cell. He sits texting someone and Hannah looks at his cell when he is done. "Nice picture." She says and his eyes widen a little. "Whats wrong?" I ask him and hannah turns his cell around to show me, the picture of us from after Good Morning America. I look at him and he puts his phone away in his pocket. The waitress comes over and we order. "I guess you three want your usual smoothies?" We nod. "Yeah, and can they get a 98, 75, 22, 21, 84." He says and she nods. "Sure thing."

We smile and our food comes, after we finish we slurp on our smoothies, we pay and walk out. We sign some autographs and a girl gives me a heart cushion, I hug her. "Thank you." she smiles and I walk with Samuel towards some shops. "I'll change it." I look at him. "What?" He shows me the picture on his cell and I smile. I take his cell and send it to me. "It is a good picture of us." I say and change my picture. "Besides, its my picture too." I wink at him and we walk out of the shops and sit on a wall.

"It all starts tomorrow." I say. "For once, i'm scared." I smile and put my hand on his shoulder. "You have nothing to worry about." I say and he smiles. He puts his hand on my hand, he takes my hand off his shoulder and holds my hand. "I just don't want to be first to go." I smile. "You won't. I promise." He smiles. "You're too good." I say and he looks at me. "Like you." I shake my head. "I don't know why I am here. Everyone here are better singers than me." He shakes his head. "Your'e better than a few." I shake my head and smile. Matheus walks up to us. "We have been looking everywhere for you." He says to me. "Ahem?" Samuel says. "Well wherever she is, you are. That is pretty obvious." I nod and they all walk up behind him. "Something you guys wanna tell us?" MyKynleigh says, pointing to our hands. We snap them away and walk back down the street together. He puts his arm around my shoulder and we walk together. Hannah turns around and walks backwards. "Say something to your fans!" We smile. "Hey guys!" I say and Samuel turns to me. "That was really nerdy." I smile. "Like you then." He laughs. "How about you tell them about how you guys snook off and were holding hands on a wall?" Damien says and we look at each other. "We didn't sneak off. We were hanging out." Alex nods. "Just casually holding hands." Samuel looks at me and we don't know what to say. "We were just trying to calm down before filming starts tomorrow." I say and Samuel nods. "Sure Bryce and MyKynleigh are holding hands right now!" He says and the camera turns to them. "You have your arm around Nicola right now!" Bryce shouts and Hannah turns back around. "My neck was cold." We both laugh. "We have these things in America called scarves." Matheus shouts and Samuel shrugs. "Maybe I wanted to be her scarf?" They all turn around and stop walking. "Yeah, so those two are basically together, what about you and Lindsay, Damien?" We look up at Hannah. "We are not together!" We shout and keep walking.

"Why can't a guy and a girl just be friends?" Samuel says to me. "I think its because we are so comfortable around each other?" He shrugs. "I don't know." I nod. "Weird world." He smiles and we walk back into the house and Hannah turns off the video. "Hey guys." We say and walk into the choir room together. We sit in the corner and Lindsay smiles. "We seen your video Hannah." She says as Hannah walks in. "Great, wasn't it?" Lindsay turns to look at us, she stands up and lifts something from the seat next to her, she throws it to me and I unravel it. "Thanks." I say. A scarf. "She doesn't need it though." Samuel says and I smile. I get up. "I'm going to go chill with Marissa for a while." He nods and walks over to Bryce and Damien. I walk in and sit on my bed. "Hey." I say and she smiles. "Have fun?" I nod. "Yeah." She nods. "I was sent this on twitter." She shows me a picture of us holding hands. "What is going on Nicola?" I shake my head. "We are just best friends." She nods. "It doesn't look that way." I shrug. "That's the way it is." She nods. "Well then, I guess you two are really good friends." I smile. "We are." Someone knocks the door. "Hey Marissa, Toto, we are going to practice after dinner, ok?" We nod. "Yep." Lindsay walks in and Samuel pulls his head back out again. "Hey." She sits on Lindsay's bed. "Hi." I smile. "Did you get that scarf?" I nod. "Yeah, thanks." I laugh. "How are you and Damien?" She smiles. "I really like him." We nod. "We noticed." Marissa says. She plays with her hair. "Dinner is ready." Emily says and we walk out. I sit down in my usual seat and eat dinner. I help clean up and walk into the Choir room. We run through the song and all sit with our best friends, which I am really starting to see a rift in the group, cliques are forming- Alex, Matheus, Emily, Bryce, MyKynleigh and Hannah. Cameron, Damien, Lindsay, Marissa, Samuel and Me. "I think I am going to get an early night guys, see you in the morning." Samuel says to us. "Night." I say and he nods. "Night Toto." I smile and sit with Damien, Lindsay and Cameron- Marissa is talking to MyKynleigh. "Guys. I don't think I can do this tomorrow." They smile. "I'm sure of Samuel was comforting you, you could." Damien says and I pull at his ear. "Ow. Sorry." I nod. "I warned you." I smile.

"I'm going to bed too. You coming?" Lindsay says to me. I nod. "Yeah. Night guys." I say to Cameron and Damien. "Night." We say to everyone else and go to bed. "Tomorrow will be very exciting." I nod. "yeah, it will be." I say and she turns off the light. "Night Nicola." I smile. "Night, Lindsay." I say back and go to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

Next Day.

I wake up and walk into the choir room. My cell rings and I answer it. "Hey Mum." I say and tears well up in my eyes. "Hey sweetie, whats wrong?" I laugh at myself. "I miss you." She laughs a little. "Baby, we're all rooting for you at home." Tears drip down my cheeks. "I'm in a weird country, with weird people and I feel stupid. They are all better than me. They have better ranges and I'm just the mean girl that wants to get in a scuffle. I started a fight with Alex, I went off in tears and they came after me. They shouldn't have to come after me." I start crying and she tries to calm me down. "Listen. You are just as good as the rest of them, or else you would not be there. The people you are with are probably feeling the same. Alex probably had it coming, and the people that came after you care about you." I keep crying. "It's all getting on top of me and we are starting shooting today. We haven't even started and I am already freaking out." She takes a deep breath. "Your not going to freak out, your just letting out feelings. Sweetie I know you. You're not used to being around other people. You've thrown yourself into this and you're scared you'll fall. You won't. Now get off the phone, go throw on thirty layers of make up and plaster a smile on your face. Even if it hurts. We are all rooting for you and we'll all be here. I love You." I laugh. "I Love You To mum." I say and hang up. I set my cell beside me and hold my head in my hands. I look up and Marissa. I laugh at myself. So stupid. So god damn stupid. Now they have seen you cry, you freak. How do you expect them to get on with you if you are going to cry to your mum?

Marissa walks over to me and sits beside me. "We heard everything." She whispers and I hold my head to my hands again. she puts her arm on my back. "Who is we?" I ask her. "Samuel, Me, Cameron and Damien." I nod. "Great." I say and smile. "It's getting to me, and we haven't even started yet." I say. "It's easier for us, we are from America. For you, Matheus and Damien this is completely different to what you are used to." I nod. "Pretty lame, aren't I." I say and she laughs. "You think you shouldn't be here, but you should. You are a good singer. You keep putting yourself down." I nod. "Now, go pretty yourself up." I smile and hug her. I walk out and see Samuel with Damien and Cameron. "Are you ok?" Damien says to me and I nod. "Yep." Samuel winks at me and I smile. I walk back into the girls dorm and pick out my Guns N Roses T-Shirt, along with my skinny jeans and red converse. I take out my mouse and make my hair curly. I put on some grey eyeshadow and red lipstick. I walk back out to everyone. "You ready?" I nod at Cameron. "Course." I say and sit down with Samuel and Damien. Samuel nods. "You ok?" I nod. "Yeah, Better now." I say with a smile. "Talk later?" I nod. "That would be great." He nods and Robert Ulrich walks in with a camera crew and we sit up. "Good morning guys." We smile. "Morning." We say, like a group of excited kids. "So, today is the beginning of our journey. It is individuality week, so we want to see you. Now, without further adeu. This weeks special guest." We all look around the corner and watch him walk in. Darren Criss.

"Oh My Gosh." Lindsay says. "Hi!" I say and Samuel turns to me. "Nerd." I smile and everyone says hi to him. "So this is individuality week. So I want you all to be yourselves up on that stage and show me what you got. I will also be looking at what you are wearing, which of you shows off your individuality?" He says and we walk over to the stage and perform. "Sign, sealed delivered i'm yours." The lights go back up and he nods. "Well that was awesome." He says and we smile. "Nicola? Is that your name?" I nod. "Yeah." I say. "I really like your style." I smile. "Thank you." I say. "Is this normal for you, or?" I nod. "Yeah, I mean, I like rock music and I am a metal head, so." He nods. "If I seen you walking down the street, I honestly would not have guessed that." I smile. "So your irish, and so is Damien?" He says, looking to Damien. "yep." He says. "Well, you all did really well. Although, today, the winner is Matheus." He smiles. "Thank you." He nods. "This weeks video is Firework, so we will have some one on one time and good luck." He says and walks out. "Congratulations Matheus." Robert Ulrich says and the camera crew walk back out. "Ao you will get to meet with Darren tomorrow Matheus. You start learning your choreography on wednesday and then shoot the video on wednesday and thursday, final call backs with Ryan are on friday, and that will be how it will work each week." We nod and he walks out. "Well Done Matheus." I say and he nods. "Thanks." We sit and wait for all the crew to leave and Samuel turns to me. "Come on." I smile and we walk out and into the living area- first time i've been in here.

I sit on the sofa and he sits up beside me, with his feet up, as if he was half sitting-half standing. "What's going on?" He says to me and I play with one of my bracelets. "My mum called and I just dropped the gun. I told her everything and started panicking." He nods. "Why do you think your lame?" He asks me and I stop playing with my bracelet and look at him. "I'm not as good as the rest of you guys. I am crying in front of you and I feel like you guys think I am attention seeking and I hate that, when I genuinely do not think I am good enough to be here." He nods and sits up on his knees right in front of me. "You are good enough to be here and your home sick. Don't think everyone else is better than you, because you are just as good as them. You don't need to hide away and then when someone rings you from home you cry. I don't mind if you cry, heck by the time this competition is over, you'll probably see me cry too." I smile and look up at him. "I want you to stop right now, and think. Ok? Believe in yourself. You can do this, ok?" he says, putting his arm on my shoulder. "You can." I smile. "You are a really good friend Samuel." I say and he nods. "Thats what I am here for." He smiles. "Is there anything, maybe, you want to talk about?" He shrugs and drops his hand from my shoulder. "I miss my mom and Skip, my best friend." I nod. "It's weird, right?" He nods. "I miss seeing them everyday." I nod. "It's 11 weeks." I say and he nods. "Maybe less." I add in and he laughs. "Come here." He says and holds out his arms to hug me and I lean forward. He wraps his arms around my back and I smile, wrapping my arms around his neck. We break away and I look into his eyes. "You have really nice eyes." I say and he smiles. "So do you." I smile and he takes his bracelet off his arm, and takes one of my bracelets off my arm, He puts his on me and mine on his. "Never to far away." He winks and we get up and sit together to watch Friends. I lift my cell. "You were right. Filming is over for today. All is sorted. Feeling alot better. Love You. X." I write and send it to mum. I smile at Samuel and watch TV. I turn to him. "Why did you call me a nerd in front of Darren Criss?" He laughs. "You were like, Hi!" I laugh. "Yeah, that was very nerdy of me." I say and he nods. "Play it smooth." I nod. "Sure." I say and he takes out his Iphone. "Hey guys. It's Samuel Larsen here." He says and I move out of shot. "Where are you going?" I shrug. "Camera shy, really?" I laugh. "And Nicola, If you can find her." He says, pointing the camera at me. "So we just finished today's filming, and I want to remind you guys to always be yourselves. Ok? Don't be like really nerdy and be like Hi!" I laugh at him. "Shut up!" I say and He laughs. "No, but be yourselves. Don't change to fit in, don't hide away and bottle things up. Anyway. I love You, and I love hearing from you, so keep your messages coming and who knows, I might post a new song I have been working on up here in a few days. That sound good?" He says to the camera. "Ok, I gotta go." He says and shuts it off.

"Yeah, thanks." I smile and he nods and turns to me. "Why don't you trust people easily?" I shrug. "My dad left before I was born, he didn't want me, he then came into my life, saying he wanted to be part of my life and all of a sudden, when I let him in. He left me again." He nods. "I see." I nod. "So tell me about this song you have been writing." He smiles. "I started it about 10minutes before you entered the house." I nod. "So, what is it about?" He nods. "Being different." I chuckle to myself. "How come I haven't seen you writing it?" He nods. "I do it when I am in bed or when I wake up." I nod. "Can I hear some?" He nods and takes a notepad from his back pocket and sings some of it. I nod. "That is really good Samuel." He smiles. "Thanks." We sit and he plays with my hand while I watch TV. "Do you have any tattoos?" I shake my head. "I want one though." He smiles. "Really?" I nod. "Yeah." He nods. "After this is all over. We will go and you can get your first tattoo." I nod. "Ok." He nods. "If, you promise to talk to me when something is bugging you." I smile. "You want me to cry again, don't you." He smiles. "No. but do we have a deal?" I nod. "Sure." I say and we shake hands, which he pulls in for a hug. "You like hugs, don't you?" He laughs. "Only from certain people." I smile. and we watch some more TV- in this half hug, half-cuddle. We get up and walk out to the rest of the guys.

"Hey guys." We say and they smile. "Nice cuddle guys?" Damien says, turning around in his seat and eating a bag of crisps. "What?" I say, looking up at Samuel. "Oh, we seen you." Marissa holds up her cell. "I'm sure twitter would too!" I run after her and grab her cell. "I send the picture to me and delete it off her cell. "Here you go." I say smiling, her not knowing I took a copy of the picture.

"I was cold." Samuel says. "I don't know what you guys' problem is." MyKynleigh says. "We have blankets and scarves in America." I smile and sit by myself, going over the song choice. "You ok over there?" Cameron shouts over to me. "Yeah!" I shout and keep going over it.

Marissa starts singing and we all join in. We all get up and start dancing. "just hold your own, like its the fourth of July." I sing. "Baby your a firework. Gonna let your colours burst." Samuel sings and twirls me around. I smile and we all run around each other. "Boom. Boom Boom." We all fall into our seats. "Wow." Cameron says.


	7. Chapter 7

There is a knock at the door and we all look at each other. We all get up and slowly approach the door. Emily opens it and Darren Criss walks in. "Hey guys." We smile. "Hi." We say, pretty shocked that he is walking into our kitchen, with paper and pencils. He sits at the kitchen table and we sit around him. "Ok guys. So for the music video, it is going to be a high school yearbook theme. So we have to have pages to do with your future. A 'most likely to-' page. So, each of you are going to get a page and a pencil. I'll call out someone's name and you write down what they are most likely to do. The most common or most interesting will be put in the book." We nod. "No-one can know what you wrote and I will call them out.

Bryce: A Jazz singer

Emily: An Underwear model

Damian: Sing Danny Boy Everyday

Marissa: A beauty queen

Alex: Fashion Designer

Matheus: Body popper

MyKynleigh: Country singer

Lindsay: Opera singer

Cameron: Songwriter

Hannah: A Joker

Samuel: Go His Own Way.

I smile at the sheet while they call out my name. We fold them up and hand them to Darren. "Ok, lets start off with Bryce. He walks around and sits up on the counter so that we can't see the pages he is reading. "I'll read out a few"

"Bryce: A Hottie. A heartbreaker. A Movie star. A Muscle man. A jazz singer. A dancer."

"Emily: A stripper. Gold digger. Underwear model. Playboy bunny." He looks up at us and back at the sheets.

"Damian: Irish musician. Sing Danny Boy everyday-" Damien looks at me. "Thanks." I laugh at him.

"Marissa: A beauty queen. A pop star. Trustworthy."

"Alex: A diva. Drama queen. Drag queen. Fashion designer." He nods. "You're just jealous of how fabulous i am." We smile.

"Matheus: A belter. A smooth operator. A body popper." Darren laughs a little.

"MyKynleigh: Country singer. A gossip. RnB singer." She looks at each of us.

"Lindsay: An opera singer. A soprano. On broadway. Gorgeous." She smiles at all of us and Damian blushes a little. Aww.

"Cameron: A songwriter. A perfect husband. A sweet guy."

"Hannah: A joker. Fun. A good friend."

"Samuel: Sweet. Nice. Caring. Hot." Darren looks up. "Most likely to Go His Own Way." He smiles and nods.

"And Nicola: Sweet. Lovable. Honest. A Drama. Metalhead. Be Herself. Steal a guy. Have a big heart." I nod and smile.

I look at Emily and she looks away. What did I do? He gives us back our sheets. "Well, I have decided from your opinions and you will see in your yearbook." He waves and walks back out. "You guys think alot about me." Emily says and gets up. "That's the way you talk about yourself." Lindsay says.

"Who said Nicola would steal a guy?" Marissa asks. "And that she was a drama?" Damian asks and I shrug. "I don't really care." I say and get up. "Anyone want some tea or coffee?" They all turn around. "How can you not care that people said that about you?" Samuel asks me and I shrug. "You get used to it." I say and he looks down and I boil the kettle. "Tea?" They shake their heads. "Ok." I say and make myself a cup and sit back down at the table.

"What's wrong?" I say to Lindsay. "People are being mean and you don't care." I smile. "When you hear it often enough, it means nothing." I drink my tea. "Can we talk about something else?" I say and they nod. "Danny boy." I say between sips of tea and Damian laughs. They all look at us. "Danny boy is this really traditional Irish song which alot of Irish people hate to sing because you have to give alot of emotion and it's just not a fun song to perform." I say and Damien nods. "I hate it." I smile and they nod.

I sit back in my seat and my cell bleeps. "I know who said that stuff about you." I nod and text Cameron back. "I'm past it. I'd rather ignore it." I send it. "Very modest of you." He texts back and Bryce sits playing with MyKynleigh's hand and I smile. "So guys, what do you want to do?" I shrug. "Pool?" I nod at Marissa and we get up.

We walk to our dorm and I take out the balls and put them in the triangle. "So, what else did you say?" I look up at Marissa. "What?" She smiles. "What did you say about us?" I smile and Damian nods. "Well we know you called Samuel hot-" I shake my head. "That wasn't me." I say and Samuel nods.

I take out my seat. "Marissa: Most Likely to be a beauty queen." I say and scan down the list. "Samuel: Most likely to go his own way." I say and he nods. "What about you? Sammy boy?" He takes out his sheet. "Damian: an actor." He nods. "Marissa: A Professional singer." She smiles. "Nicola: Most likely to have a big heart." I smile at him and we play a game of pool. "Looks like we win again." I say to them. "Nicola and Samuel: 7. Marissa and Damien: 5." Marissa says and I smile.

My ipod bleeps and I lift it from my locker. I hit accept and the video call comes up. "Hey." I say to the two girls. "NIKKI!" I smile at Alfie, running up to the screen. "Is the really cute guy there?" Laura asks me. "Which one?" I ask and Marissa smiles. "Damiam." I laugh at Erica. I smile. "Yeah, he is here." Damian grabs my ipod and is shocked at the two young girls staring back. "This is Erica and Laura. My little cousins." I say and he nods. "Hello ladies." He says and they giggle. I walk over to Samuel. "Do you want to see Nicola's boyfriend?" I laugh and shake my head. He points the camera at us. "Hey kids." Samuel says and I laugh. "We aren't dating." I say and they nod.

"I'm Marissa." She says and takes my ipod off him. "Talk to you later girls." Damian shouts. "So do you want to meet the contestants?" She says in a show host tone. She introduces them all and Gives the Ipod back to me. "Wow." Laura says to me and I smile. "It looks like fun!" Erica shouts. "We are going to get lunch. Talk to you soon!" I nod. "Talk to you soon." I say and she ends the call. I smile and put my ipod in my pocket.

We Go through the song again and lie down in the boys dorm. I lie up beside Cameron on his bed. "You still don't want to know who said that stuff about you?" I shrug. "Nope." I say. "How do you know though?" He nods. "I seen their sheets." I hit his arm. "You Sly boy Cameron Mitchell." He laughs. "Did you hear who said you had a big heart?" I nod. "Yeah, Samuel." He nods and Samuel looks up from his notepad. "What are you writing?" Cameron says to him. "Nothing important." I smile at Samuel and he winks at me, I turn back to Cameron. "It was Emily." Cameron says to me. I nod. "Ehm, ok, did I ask?" He laughs and shakes his head. "No, but you deserve to know." Samuel looks up. "Emily what?" Cameron nods. "Nicola's most likely to steal a guy." I laugh and Samuel sits up.

"I have an idea." I whisper in Cameron's ear and his eyes near pop out and he nods. "Ok." I smile. I cuddle up more into Cameron and he puts his arm around me, Samuel looks up and I wink at him. He nods and a pile of the gang walk in and look at me and Cameron. He turns to me. "It's working." He whispers and I nod, he leans in close to me and I smile and pull back. "Oh, guys. Hi." I say and they look at us. "Oh. My. God." Lindsay says and looks at Samuel, who is purposely looking pissed off, writing in his notepad, He looks at me and I smile. "He had a girlfriend!" Damian says. "Your- your looking at her." Cameron says and I smile. "What about the girl in Texas." He shrugs. "She isn't going to know." I say with a smile. "I was right!" Emily shouts and I look at her. "What about?" She smiles. "You are most likely to steal a guy." We look down. "Oh, my god. You're-" I can't finish and Cameron looks up. "Such a bitch." He says in a really fake girl accent and Samuel, Cameron and I burst out laughing. "What the F is going on?" Alex shouts and I look at Cameron. "Why don't you tell them, baby?" I wink and he laughs. "Yeah, so um. I seen your sheet Emily and I told Nicola the truth." Samuel sits laughing on his bed. "And you actually bought it." I say and they all look both cross and relieved. "No matter what, I wouldn't steal someone's boyfriend, got it? Good." I say and Cameron lets go of me. "So you guys aren't-" We shake our heads. "He is like my brother." I say and I look at Samuel who is almost in tears after laughing.

"Can I just ask though Emily, why do you think she would steal a guy?" Samuel says to her. "It's just her attitude, besides, she has stole you from us this week." I nod. "Fair enough." I say and Samuel looks at me. "You can't even fight her?" Cameron says to me. "Why should I? It's the truth." I shrug, she smiles. "I wasn't held against my will. Maybe I actually wanted to spend time with Nicola this week." He says and Damian gives us a look. "If you wanted to talk to me Emily, you could have made an effort." Samuel says. "Oh, baby boy don't even go there."

I nod. "yeah, so I am getting out of this drama before it gets messy. Air hockey Cameron?" He nods. "Sure." We get up and walk out. "What ever is going on in there is your fault." I say and he nods. "Kind of yours though." I look up. "You have spent the entire week with him." I nod. "He is just really easy to get along with, besides, I have spent time with everyone else." I say setting up the game and switching the air on. We play a game and he wins. "Well done." I say and he nods. "Oh yeah!" I laugh and we walk back in to the guys dorm and it is silent. "Did we just walk into a library?" I whisper to Cameron and he tries not to laugh. I grab my glasses from the girls dorm and grab two dictionaries. I give one to Cameron, we sit on his bed and start reading them. I hear a click and look up at Samuel who has his Iphone out. I smile and Cameron points to something.

"Yes, Apple. A-P-P-L-E. Usually Red or green fruit." He laughs and I set the dictionary down. Cameron sits giggling. "Looking at the rude words?" He nods and Damien gets the other dictionary. "Shove over Nicola!" I laugh and get up. "I will leave you dirty little boys alone." I say and they laugh. I sit on the floor at the edge of the room and Samuel looks at me and to his bed, but I shake my head. He nods and keeps writing.

"So are we going to sit in silence, or are we going to kiss hug and make up?" Hannah says to us. "Or make out!" Bryce shouts and they all laugh. I look up at Emily. "Sorry I called you a guy stealer to Darren Criss." I nod. "Sorry for calling you an underwear model to Darren Criss." She nods. "Now hug." Hannah says and we get up and hug. "Kiss." We look at Matheus and both pucker our lips. "And Make out." We grab pillows and hit Bryce. "Sorry." He says.

I sit up on Damian's bed. I get a text. "What's wrong? Why won't you sit beside me? I wanna show you this song." I smile. "You need a shower." His cell bleeps and he bursts out laughing. "Yeah, thanks!" He says out loud. "Oh, texting are we?" Alex says and Samuel turns around. "Not anymore we're not!" I laugh at him. "He asked me to sit beside him." I say. "And she told me I needed a shower." They laugh. "Yeah, your smelling a little funky on it." Matheus says and we laugh at him.

"Fine." Samuel says and gets up and walks out. We laugh and Alex and Cameron go for his notepad. I grab it and they look at me. "It's his." They smile. "We just want a peek." I shake my head. "It's his." I say and walk back out. "Hello?" I hear Samuel shout from the bathroom. "Yeah?" I say and walk to the door. "I-uh, forgot a towel." I laugh and nod. "Ok." I grab a towel and give it to Damian. "Why are you giving me this?" I nod. "Samuel needs a towel." He looks at me. "You're a dude." He rolls his eyes. "Fine." He gets up and goes to the bathroom.

I walk back out and go to the girls dorm with his notepad. I set it on my pillow and go on to twitter video.

"Hey guys, so, I just wanted to make a video to tell you that we filmed some stuff this morning and that we are all getting along, even though I had a row with a couple of people, it's all good. Ehm, yeah, really pointless video I guess, but Hi, I love you." I say and hang up.

Marissa walks in with MyKynleigh and we get ready for bed. MyKynleigh hits the light and we go to sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

I get up and see Marissa and Emily. "Everything is about her! We have done nothing but tip-toe around her since this whole thing started!" Emily says and I nod. "She is homesick. This entire thing is freaking her out." I shrug and grab and apple from the kitchen. "And she played that trick on me last night with Cameron- I thought he was my friend." I stand behind Emily. "He is your friend. He just wanted some fun, you know the way you guys haven't had any of that since I got here?" I say with a smile. "You conniving little bitch." I smile. "I guess we didn't make up yesterday." I say and take a bite of my apple. She gets up and she gets in my face. "Believe me, that's the last thing I want." I nod. "Girls, come on." Marissa says. "Can't make everyone like you." I say and take another bite of my apple. "Oh please, you'd be lucky if anyone liked you." I nod. "That is enough." Marissa says to us. "Get over yourselves and face the facts, ok? Emily, you want to spend time with Samuel, and Nicola you spent a week with him and you were homesick. We are all doing this and some of us are just more public about our feelings than others, ok? No matter what, we are all doing ths together, and if Nicola wants to cry she can, and if you want to have fun, we can. It's not that she doesn't want to have fun, it's because she is in a completely different country and her family are about 50 countries away, not just 10 states." We both look at her and nod. She hugs me and I hug her back. "Fair enough." She says and I smile. We turn around to see everyone watching. "I'm going back to bed." Matheus and Damien say and we laugh.

"You need to get ready." I say to Matheus, looking at the clock. "Darren Criss is coming here at 11." He nods and goes to get ready. "I'm going to go out and buy breakfast, you want some?" Damien says to me and I nod. When he comes back, we sit around the table and sort out breakfast. "So, are we going out on friday?" Lindsay says and we nod. "Sure." Alex says and we nod. Matheus gets up first and goes to get ready.

10 minutes later:

Matheus walks back out. "How do I look?" I nod. "Great." MyKynleigh says and he walks off to the Choir room to meet Darren and shuts the door behind him. We get changed and sit in the kitchen, and practice the song. "And that's when Matheus comes in." Alex says and we nod. He walks off and goes to the choir room to meet Darren, he shuts the door behind him and we hang out in our dorm. "This place is really boring." The guys walk in and Cameron sits beside me. "Don't you want to sit beside Nicola?" Hannah asks Samuel. "Her boyfriend wants to sit beside her." We laugh and Cameron gets a text. "Who is that?" Lindsay asks him. "It's the girl he is leaving me for." I say with a fake tear and we laugh. He gets up. "Yeah, I'm gonna go talk to her." He says and we nod, he walks out and I look at the ceiling. "This place is a real buzz kill." Samuel says and we nod in agreement. The screen lights up and we look at it.

"You must all be ready for 2pm. A limo will lift you and bring you to a press interveiw. Every girl must have a guy." We read it and look at each other. "I call Cameron!" Marissa shouts. "I call Lindsay!" Damian shouts. "I call Nicola." Samuel shouts. "I call Bryce." MyKynleigh shouts and we all get a pair. "Purple." Samuel says to me and I nod. They guys walk out to get dressed and we start sorting out what to wear. I get my purple dress from the closet along with my black pumps and put Samuel's bracelet on my arm. "Where'd you get that?" Hannah says to me, pointing to my wrist. "Samuel and I swapped bracelets." I say and fix my hair with my curlers. When we are done we walk out to the guys and Matheus joins us. "How was your one-on-one?" Hannah asks him and he nods. "Great." He goes to get changed and I sit beside Samuel, wearing a purple shirt, dark jeans and black shoes, and my bracelet. "You look, nice." He says and I sit beside him in the choir room. "Thanks. So do you." I say with a smile and Matheus walks in and we walk out together, every couple wearing a matching colour. We get into the limo and are driven to a press interview.

"Let the games begin." Hannah says as we get out and walk into the meeting area. We all take our seats at the table and Samuel holds my hand for a brief second before we turn around and Robert Ulrich walks in and sits at the other side, beside Alex. "Hello." Robert Ulrich says and the press, and some fans clap and woo. "Introduce yourselves." Robert says to us and each in turn we nod, they get to Damian and he nods. "I am Damian McGinty, I am 18 years old from Northern Ireland." He says and I nod. "I am Nicola McDowney, I am 18 years old from Country Derry, Northern Ireland." I say, with a half smile and Samuel leans forward towards his microphone. "I am Samuel Larsen, I am 19 years old, from Los Angeles, California." He says with a smile and sits back in his seat. "These are our final twelve from The Glee Project, which premiere's next Sunday night at 9/8 Central on Oxygen." Robert Ulrich says and we all lean forward. "LIVE OUT LOUD" We shout and laugh.

"So, we will all take turns and take questions from you." Robert says and they fire questions at us. "MyKynleigh, what has been your favourite thing about the last few weeks?" She nods. "It has to be hanging out with everyone and just taking it in our strides I guess." She says and nods. "Samuel." He looks over at Jager Weatherby and we all laugh. "Yeah?" He says. "What is your current relationship status?" He nods. "Single." He says nodding, and raising his eyebrow at the same time. She nods. "Nicola." I nod. "Yes?" I say to her. "What is your, current relationship status?" I laugh. "Single." I say and Bryce cuts in. "I'm single too, if anyone cares." We laugh at him and move on to another question. "Lindsay, has there been any fights in the house?" Her eyes widen a little. "Nothing major." She says and brushes it off. "Nicola, Where did you get the bracelet you are wearing?" I look at it. "It's Mine." Samuel says and we both smile. "He has mine." I say and he rolls up his sleeves so that you can see it. "Alex, who do you think is the biggest competition?" He nods. "Other than me? It would have to be Marissa, Nicola, Samuel or Cameron." We nod at him and keep answering questions.

"Marissa, why do you think you are good enough for Glee?" She sits up straight in her chair. "I think, it's because I have came over things in my life, and I think that I am quirky enough to be on the show." She says and sits back. Damian leans up to my ear. "How hot does Lindsay look?" I look over at Lindsay, who is sitting beside him and look back at Damian, I go towards his ear. "I think you should talk about this with Samuel." I say and wink. He laughs. I lean back against his ear. "She looks good though." I say and sit back in my seat. Samuel looks at me. "You look, really pretty today." I smile. "You said that earlier." He nods. "Just reminding you." I smile and he nods. "You look great too." I say and we look over at Matheus who is answering a question along with Hannah.

We finish answering questions and walk to the door. Jager walks up to me and Samuel after we have a picture taken with Damian and Lindsay. "I am here with Sweethearts Samuel Larsen and Nicola McDowney From, The Glee Project, I am Jager Weatherby, and you are watching ." I look at Samuel. "I think I am going to be sick." I say to him. "Do I look that bad?" I laugh at him and he rubs my back. "We are not together." Samuel says to the camera and I nod. "But what about the videos? The pictures? The holding hands, hugging, having your arm wrapped around her?" She says to Samuel. "We are just really good friends." I say and he looks at me. "Are you ok, you don't look so good." I nod. "I'm fine." I say and Jager looks at the camera and back at us. "We aren't together, we are just friends." Samuel says again. "You care about her." He says to Samuel and I nod. "Yeah, I'm going to be sick." I say and walk away, "Nicola?" I nod. "I'm ok." I say back to him and Marissa runs over to me and we walk into the bathroom. I run into a stall and throw up.

I close the door and clean my face. _No Crying, not today, not with Jager Weatherby outside quizzing Samuel._ "Nicola?" _Correction, Not with Samuel and Cameron in the girls bathroom with Marissa. _"I'm fine." I say and open the stall door. I walk out and they all look at me. "Are you sure you're ok?" I nod and then shake my head and run back into the stall and be sick again. "Now i'm fine." I say and come back out. "I think there was something in that egg and bacon Damian gave me this morning." I say to Cameron. He nods and hands me a box of mints and a bottle of water. I laugh at him and take it. "You ok?" Marissa says to me and I nod. "Yeah, I'm fine." I say to her and check my dress. "Your fine." Samuel says and I smile. Marissa hands me a lipstick and I put it on, she smiles and I give it back to her. "What did you say to Jager?" I ask Samuel and he nods. "I just told her that nothing was going on." I nod. We go to walk out and see Lindsay with Damian.

"You ok?" I nod. "Yeah." I say and we all walk outside, past Jager Weatherby. "Are you ok?" She asks me and I nod. "Fine, thanks." She nods. "Do you care about Samuel?" I roll my eyes and nod. "Yeah, of course I do, he is my best friend. Of course I care about him." I say and walk away with them. We sign autograph's and I look at the Limo. "Do you want to go back?" Lindsay says to me. "I'm ok for another while yet." I say back and get a picture with Emily and Alex. "Nicola." I turn around and see Samuel. I nod and walk over to him. A girl holds up a camera and he puts his arm around me I smile at him and I put my hand on his shoulder. We smile and the flash goes off. We let go of each other and some people get into the limo. "I'm going to get in." I say to Samuel and he nods. "I'll be in soon." I nod. "Take your time." I say and wink a him.

I sit up in the seat and Alex nods at me. "Hi." I say to him and he nods. "Hey." Damian is texting and Hannah is googling stuff on her iphone.


	9. Chapter 9

10 Minutes Later.

Samuel gets in and sits beside Damian. "You ok?" I nod. "Yeah, I think Damian was trying to poison me this morning." I say and Damian looks up. "I wasn't. I guess food here just isn't as good as it is at home." He says with a wink and starts Samuel off. "Or maybe our food is just alot better than what you potato-eaters are used to." He says with a smile and I look at him. "At least I don't live on mcdonald's." I say and he nods. "Did you just go there?" Samuel says to me. "Well You called us 'Potato-Eaters'" I say and he nods. "Fine then." He goes off in a huff and I laugh.

After an hour, we are all in the limo and are on our way back to the house. "What is your favourite band?" I ask Hannah, in an effort to get to know her better. "I like Fleetwood Mac. Classics." I nod. "Cool." I say with a smile and my head feels a little light. I look up at the ceiling and someone puts a bottle of water in my hand. I look up and it's Cameron. I nod and he smiles.

~The Next Day~

I wake up, feeling alot better compared to yesterday. I put on my jeans, white t-shirt and red converse. We eat breakfast and walk out and get into the mini bus. We get to a studio about 10 minutes later and all walk in together. We go straight into choreography with Zach and Brooke. "Ok guys. It its; right left, right stomp, strike a pose, a pose, a pose. Left shoulder nudge, right shoulder nudge, left shoulder nudge, and then; right shoulder nudge, left shoulder nudge, right shoulder nudge. And-" He keeps going and we keep copying.

We practice it for about three hours and practice the song along with our moves. Zach nods. "Ok, we are going to go on to set and put you all into place." We

Nod and walk onto set, which looks just like the hallway on Gl- "This is the hallway that is seen on every episode of Glee." We smile in shock and they put us into place, i stand in line and when we get to lindsays part she gets up and I sit on the stool. I sing and pull poses. I get up and run straight to the bleachers to practice the last bit of the performance, I stand on the right of Samuel and we do the "Boom, Boom, Boom." When it finishes, we are told to dance about like crazy and when we stop, Zach and Robert clap. "Well done guys." Zach says and Robert nods, "You will go record with Nikki in the studio now, and then film the video tomorrow." We nod and leave the set. I walk with Damian and Cameron.

"Where are we eating tonight?" Damian asks. "Not from the same place you bought breakfast the other morning." I say and he laughs. "Guys, i gotta take this." Cameron says and walks ahead of us, we see a smile start to creep on his face and I turn to Damian. "How long have they been together?" He smiles. "2years 4months. I cant remember how many days." I smile. "He really love her." I say and Damian sighs. "Whats wrong?" I ask him and he shrugs. "Nothing important." I nod. We walk to the studio and when we get there, all sit in the waiting for our turns.

"They have a snack machine." Bryce says and we smile, he pops his head back out and I walk with Lindsay and Marissa to the machine, I get a bottle of sprite and we walk back up. Nikki calls me and I walk in.

"Ok, Nicola." I nod and she plays the backing track. "Baby you're a firework, come on let your colours burst!" She nods. "This time, really go for it. You've got it, i just wanna feel it" I nod and it starts playing again. I do it again and she nods. "Great." I smile. "Thank you." I say and walk out.

Samuel turns round to me. "Want a crisp Toto?" I shake my head. I'm good thanks." A smoke. That's what I want. One itty-bitty cigarette. None of these guys smoke, you can tell. I guess, you couldn't tell I smoked either, but too much paparazzi and these guys would definately frown upon it. "Guys." Alex says to us and we all go into the sound room and stand around the microphones. "Boom. Boom. Boom..." We sing it and I close my eyes.

The Glee Project. 2011. Is actually happening.

I open my eyes and we walk back out. "Good job today guys." We smile at Nikki and walk back out. We walk down the street and see a chinese. We all look at each other and nod. We each order and when our food comes, I look at Marissa's plate. "Is that all you want?" She nods. "I'm not that hungry." I nod and eat my beef with black bean sauce and Noodles.

When we finish eating, Samuel looks over the balcony. "Skip!" He shouts down and a guy with short curly hair looks up and smiles. "Come on." I look at him. "What?" He is all hyped up. "Come on!" I grab my jacket, we set money on the table and walk down the fire escape.

We get to the bottom and Samuel hugs him. I nod. "Irish?" I nod. "I'm Ni-" He nods "Irish." I laugh and we shake hands. They start talking and I look back up at the guys, who are all leaning over the balcony. I wave up and hear a flick. Damn you Skip! Of all the days someone could have a cigarette in front of me.

Ahh second-hand smoke. It'll do.

Skip looks at me. "So, Irish, Hows my man coping in the house?" I smile. "A hell of a lot better than I have!" We laugh and I nod. "Yeah, He is doing great. Ain't that right pink shorts?" He smiles "Of course Toto." Skip nods. "Creepy kids." I laugh at him. "So, where is the rest of the meat-eaters?" Skip says to us and we all look up. "Hi." Skip says awkwardly to them. "I'll give you guys a minute to catch up." Samuel smiles. "Nice meeting you Skip." He nods. "You too Irish." I walk back up the fire escape.

"Who's that?" MyKynleigh asks me. "Skip. He's in Sam's band." She nods. "He smokes." Cameron says. "Yup." The lucky sod. Samuel runs back up to us. "Ready to go?" We nod and walk down.

"So, Skip." Bryce says to him. "He's my best friend." Matheus nods. "At least I know where I stand." We smile at Matheus and keep walking. "He smokes." Alex says. OMG please can they stop bringing this up? "Yeah, do you guys have a problem with that?" They shrug. "Nope." Bryce says and they keep walking. Should I ask? No, I'll look pathetic. Ugh. The cravings will go away. We get back to the house and Samuel takes out his Iphone and grabs his guitar, he walks out to the fire escape and nods at me to follow him. A smoke? That would be awesome. "Can you hold this?" I nod at him and take his Iphone. I hold it up and he nods to start filming. "Hey guys this is Samuel Larsen, and Nicola McSheffrey- If you can find her back there." He says with a smile and turns the camera on me. "Hi." I say and he laughs. "Nerd." I smile and take the Iphone off him and he starts playing the guitar. "Sugar." Samuel says and starts singing. I smile and he nods his head along with the beat from the guitar. He smiles at me and I nod. When he finishes, he looks at me and plays the last note.

I come out of the trance and he nods. "That was great." I say to him and he nods. "Thanks." I smile and we sit down on the metal sheets and look at the darkening sky. The lights of LA start to brighten and if I was with anyone else right now, i'd say that this was romantic- really romantic. He gathers his dreads and ties two together, making a sort of pony-tail out of his own hair. We sit and look out at the scene and I take my ipod out of my pocket. I use the back camera and take pictures of the scenery. "Why are you taking pictures?" I nod. "I want to remember this kind of thing." He looks at me. "What kind of thing?" I smile. "LA. The Glee Project." He nods. "Why are you taking pictures now?" I nod. "I don't know how much longer i'll be here." He looks at me with those dark eyes. "What happened to no more negativity?" You try going four weeks without smoking. "It's just, beautiful." I say back and he nods. "It is pretty awesome." I smile and nod. "Yeah, but you get to see it everyday." He nods. "Yeah, I am pretty lucky." I smile, stand up and take a picture of the entire skyline. We hear them singing inside and smile. I sit back down beside Samuel and he takes my ipod from me. He zooms in to part of the skyline. "This is where me and Skip live." I nod and go back to the camera. He switches it to the front one and takes pictures of us. I smile and Cameron walks out with Hannah and a blanket. "We thought you guys would be cold." They say and join us, we stretch the blanket out along us and Cameron looks at the skyline. "It's pretty." I nod. "Yeah, I was taking pictures of it." I say and he nods. My cell rings and interrupts the silence. The riffs of sweet child o' mine by guns n roses screech through their eardrums, yet it's like a soft melody to me. It makes Samuel jump. Which I laugh at and stand up. I lean against the metal security rail and answer it. "Hi." I say and listen to metal music being played in the background, but switched off when I answer.

"Hey Nicky." I nod. "Hi." I say again and look over the skyline. "I miss you." I nod. "I wish I could say the same." I say with a smile and look at the crazy night life below me. "Why did you call me?" I ask him and They all look up at me. "I just wanted to see how you were doing." I smile.. "Great actually. I've met great people and I like it here. It's nicer than ireland. Warmer." I look at them and walk down the steps. "You can live here. Like actually live." He laughs. "Are we just the undead in Ireland?" I smile. "Here, I can be me, not the person I was. For you. I am me and they don't care. Yeah I'm different, but I am being me." I say with a smile. "You were you in Ireland." I shake my head. "I spent my days hanging out with people who liked Justin Bieber." He laughs. "And we would hang out and listen to the latest metal album." I nod and walk down more. "Yeah, we hid away and listened to music we liked where nobody knew. Right now, I don't want to go back there. I'm here and I'm doing something I have always wanted to do." I say with a smile and look through the metal sheets at the three of them, who are polietely talking amongst each other, but I know they are listening. "You'll come back." I nod. "If I do, it won't be for you." I say and shift uneasily. "I have to go." I say and look at Samuel's bracelet. "Bye." He says and I hang up. I put my phone in my pocket and walk back up to them.

I smile. "Everything all right?" Hannah says to me and I nod. Samuel moves the blanket and I get in beside him. "Bad break up?" Cameron says to me. "Not bad. Just a break up." I say and put my head against the wall. "There now?" Samuel asks me and I laugh. "No. When auditioned all those months ago, now that he has heard I got out here, he wants to start it up again. It's pretty typical." Hannah looks at me. "What do you want?" I nod. "I want to enjoy this." I say and look out at the sky. They nod. "It is pretty wonderful." Cameron says and I look at him. "Nothing like this in Texas?" He laughs. "No." I smile and Samuel moves a little towards me and I play with his bracelets on his arm. I look up at the tiny bit of darkened skin peering out from underneath his t-shirt. I pull it up. "How many tattoo's do you have?" He nods. "9." I nod and Cameron starts staring at my ear. "I never noticed you had your ear pierced." I smile. "Yeah." He looks at Samuel's nose and turns to Hannah. "What have you got pierced?" We laugh and she points at her ears. "Just normal ear piercings." We look at her. "NORMAL?" Samuel says and I laugh. "How many piercings do you have Nicola?" I smile and bite my lip. "7." I say and they look at me. "Where?" Cameron asks. "I have two up here." I say pointing at my ear. "The Normal ones." I say copying Hannah. "two here in my nose and then up here, accross my septum." I say, pointing to the bridge of my nose. "You have your septum pierced?" Samuel says to me and I nod, "Yeah, but I don't wear it often, I don't like it that much anymore." I say and they nod.

"How many do you have?" I ask Samuel. "9." I laugh. "Balancing the tattoos and the piercings out then." He nods. "The NORMAL ones." Hannah laughs. "You guys are SO funny." She says in a sarcastic accent and I look at Samuel. "I have three in this ear, and two in the other. He says pointing to his ears. "And two in my nose." I nod. "What about you Cameron?" I ask him and we laugh. "Uhm." We look at him wide-eyed. "You actually have one?" Samuel says to him. He looks down and then points at his ear. I hold my phone up like a torch. "He does!" I say and Samuel takes his ihone out. "He takes a picture and we laugh. He sends it to twitter. "How did that happen?" Hannah asks him. "I got, drunk." We look at him. "isn't that like, Illegal here?" I say to them. "You have to be 21." I laugh. "Bummer for you guys." I say and they look at me. "You have to be 18 in Ireland." They look at me as if I am a fairy or something. "Really?" I nod. "Yeah." Hannah looks at me. "So you have gotten drunk before?" I nod. "Yeah." I say with a smile. "So have I." Samuel says and I look at him. "Skip?" He nods. "Yeah." I laugh and look at the time; 12am. "Anyway, I think I am going to head in." Hannah says. "Yeah, Me too." Cameron says and they get up. "We'll be in, in a minute." Samuel says and they nod. "Are you talking for me?" I say and he laughs.

"So. What did you guys talk about?" I ask him, he looks at me. "This and that." I nod. "You guys, totally heard the entire conversation." He laughs. "I just heard the last bit." I nod. "If I do, it won't be for you." He nods. I look at him. "He liked to hide the fact that I liked rock music. Where i'm from, that isn't cool or normal. So I hung out with kids who listened to pop music all day and then hung with him at night time and listened to metal music then. I was a complete fake." He nods. "I did it to fit in. I didn't want to be alone." He nods. "And now?" I smile. "I've never been happier." He smiles. "Come on." He says to me and I take his hand and grab the blanket. We walk in and lie in the girls dorm. "I'm tired." MyKynleigh says. Cameron nods. "Did you know that Nicola has her septum pierced!" Cameron says to everyone and I laugh at him. "Did you know that Cameron has his ear pierced!" I say and they look more shocked at that. I smile and grab some pyjamas and go get changed in the bathroom.

I walk back in, to see everyone lying on top of each other, on my bed. "What the hell is going on?" I ask them. "We're tired." I nod. "Night then." I say and turn off the light. I get up and lie on top of them. "This will be the most uncomfortable nights sleep I have ever had." I say and they all crawl out from underneath me. I lie there and hear breathing right beside me. I lift my ipod and shine it in their face. "AHH!" I squeal and they turn on the light. "You scared the crap out of me." I say to Samuel and he laughs. "Ok, now that you have scared the crap out of her, can you leave? I need to sleep." Marissa says and I smile. "Night guys." Samuel says and goes to his own dorm. I go to sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

I wake up and lie in bed and look at all the sleeping contestants. I get dressed and grab an apple for breakfast, I munch on it until Bryce walks in and sits up on the counter top. "What is going on with you and my man Sam?" I laugh at him. "He's my friend." I say to him. He looks at me with raised eyebrows. "Well, we gave him a grilling last night." I look at him. "When he came back to our dorm." I nod and take another bite of my apple. "He likes you." I nod. "i'd hope so." I say and he looks at me. "I was kinda hoping he was my friend, it kind of helps if they like you." I say and he laughs. "Why does everything have to be about who likes who these days? Can you not just be friends with someone anymore? You Americans are weird." I say and walk out and sit out on the fire escape. I look at the same place from last night and take a picture. "Painting It Black. Breaking Dawn. I can't Decide which is prettier." I post it to twitter and the door opens.

"Hey." I say to Marissa and she sits beside me. "You ok?" She nods. "Yeah." I smile. "Ok, I am totally freaking out, I am first in the video today!" I nod at her and laugh a little. "Calm down." I say and she nods. "Close your eyes, and breath." She does as I say. "Now, think about the video shoot." Her eyebrows scrunch up. "Now imaging we are all in hot dog costumes." She opens an eye. "Aren't you meant to imagine everyone in their underwear?" I look at her. "Have you seen us? We are way to good looking, you'd get even more distracted." She laughs. "Just, imagine we are wearing hot dog suits." She closes her eyes and nods. "Now, imagine Damian fell over and can't get up." She laughs. "Now imagine Cameron is covering him in mustard." She keeps laughing. "Ok, how is the rest of that meant to help me?" I shrug. "I don't know. but now, I want a hot dog." She laughs and I smile. "This is the first in a long line of video shoots. Just immediately think of us in stupid costumes." She nods and we get up. We walk back inside and they eat breakfast. "Aren't you eating?" MyKynleigh says to me. "I had an apple." I say. "Is that all you want?" Lindsay says to me. I shrug and grab a handful of grapes from the fruit bowl.

We walk outside and get into the mini van. We get to set and Marissa stands in front of the camera. She looks at me and I pretend to slip and she smiles. We go into the green room (Which is white by the way) and watch her. Damian walks over to me. "Why did I have to be the one who fell?" I laugh. "And why was I covering him in mustard?" I laugh at Cameron. "I was trying to make her laugh. "You guys just popped into my head." I say and they are called to go on to set. I walk on with Lindsay, Alex and Matheus. We get into place and they nod at Lindsay. She lip syncs her part and gets up, I walk over and sit down. I do my part and move back off set.

We run from the green room to the bleachers. "Boom, Boom, Boom." We finish the last part and are givin confetti canons. It all goes up and we dance around like crazy. The song ends and we walk off set and into the green room. I sit beside Lindsay and Emily. Samuel sits in front of me and I laugh. "What?" I pull a piece of plastic out of his dreadlocks and give it to him. He smiles and I lean back. "Who knew a video shoot would be so daunting." Alex says and Zach walks in. "That was great guys." We smile and are told to go back.

We get back and the stupid cravings come back. I eat another apple and we sit in the girls dorm, Samuel reads his bible and I look through pictures. "That's my favourite." He says, pointing at one of us both. I smile and set it as the outside wallpaper.

4 Hours later

The screen lights up and tells us to turn on the T.V

We run to the living area and Damian turns it on.

"Now that Finn, Kurt and Rachel are leaving Glee, Ryan murphy needs new faces. And one of them will be from the Glee Project." Its the guy that does the Glee voice over.

Out of 40,000 contestants, 12 remain in the hope of becoming Glee's next big thing. One is a jazz singer, one will be a nerd forever, another a country bumpkin, two kids from Ireland, one is a perfectionist, one is from Brazil, One has a range that could hurt Kurt, one is never short from attention from guys, one is a joker, and one is everyone friend. And o e has crazy hair. Who will be the winner? In 10weeks we will find out, but this is what we have coming up;" They start flashing through images.

"Signed sealed delivered im yours." plays

"Diva don't work on me Alex." I stare at the screen.

"These pink shorts are here to stay." I laugh at Samuel.

"Nicola got some really bad food poisoning, when Damian decided he should be the only irish kid in the competition."

"And they performed firework." a VERY short preview plays and we smile.

"And that's what is to come on The Glee Project, sunday 8/7c on Oxygen." it cuts to the clip from the interview where we shout "Live Out Loud"

I sit with Cameron and someone throws something at me. I uncrimple it. "Cover for me." I look around Samuel raises his eyebrows, I nod and he gets up. We watch some TV and no-one asks about him.

He walks back in and he nods at me. I smile and walk out to the fire escape. I look down and follow the steps. I walk through the street and watch it get dark. I go into unison. I want this. I want to be here. I bang it to someone and apologise quickly.

"Sorry." I say and the guy looks up. "Hey Irish." I smile. "Skip?" He flicks his cigarette and I watch the ashes flutter in the soft wind. "You smoke?" I shake my head. "No." I say with a lying smile. He looks at his cigarette and puts it out. "Arent you meant to be in the house?" I smile and shrug. "I wanted to go for a walk." He nods and his phone rings. "Dreads." He says to the person on the phone.

"I'll keep a look out." He says and hangs up. "You didn't tell them you were going?" I smile. "It just sort of happened." He nods and walks with me.

"You drink coffee?" I nod. "Yeah." We walk to a starbucks and he texts Samuel. "They'll be looking for you." I nod and we order coffee. We sit and chat, until Samuel walks up to us and sits down. "Nice disappearing act." He says to me and I nod.

"Houdini." Skip says and Samuel orders a coffee. "What did you do anyway?" I shrug. "I just went for a walk. Nothing important." I say and he nods. "Well, Lindsay thinks you have walked out of the competition." I nod and finish my coffee.

"Well, I gotta run." We nod at Skip. "Dreads, Irish." We smile and he walks away. Samuel finishes his coffee and we walk away and towards the house. A bar opens up and the bouncer stops us. "Samuel!" The bouncer says and Samuel smiles. "You coming in?" He shakes his head. "Not tonight Jo. Got to get back to the house." He smiles and we walk on down the road towards the house. He puts his arm around me. "You seem to be quite the local celebrity." I say and he laughs. "Ehm. Well, Skip and I used to busk down there." He says, pointing to a corner. "Did pretty well for ourselves to." I smile. "With a voice like your's I would be worried if you didn't do well." I say and start playing with his hand. He smiles and we walk to the house. We walk up and through the fire escape. "Look who I found." He says and takes his arm off me. I let go of his hand and Lindsay hugs me. "I thought you walked out!" I laugh. "No. I just went for a walk and ran in to Skip and got some coffee." They nod. "When did you see Skip?" I smile. "You know when you were on the phone to him?" Samuel nods. "Yeah?" I laugh. "About five minutes before that." He looks me in the eyes. "Skip lied to me?" I smile. "Yeah." I say and laugh.


	11. Chapter 11

We get up and I eat my breakfast- Cereal and an apple. We sit around and look at each other. "I don't know about you guys, but I am not sitting around here all day." Emily says and goes out the fire exit. We hear her high heels clink against the metal while she walks down the stairs.

11 Hours Later

7PM

We sit in the boys dorm and the screen lights up. "Firework." It says and we all sit and smile, the music video plays and we smile. "Robert Ulrich and Zach Woodlee will be expecting you at 8pm on stage." We look around and hear a massive door open, we run out into the hall, and a wall moves up; we walk in through it and see a large stage. "Wow." Damian says and we walk out and get dressed. I wear a red top with dark skinny jeans and my red converse. I fix my hair and we sit until it reaches 7:55pm and walk on to the stage. When it hits 8pm, they walk in and stand in front of us. "Hey guys." We smile. "Hi." We say, I am going tonight, I know it. "You all did great on this weeks video shoot and your choreography." We smile and they look us over. "Marissa. Hannah. Alex. Samuel. Lindsay. Cameron." Zach says and we look around at each other. "You are all through to next week and you will not be doing a last chance performance tonight." They all smile and I smile at them, before they go back into the house. "Emily. MyKynleigh. Matheus." Zach says and they hold hands. "You have some work to do, but you will be coming back next week." They smile and Matheus lets out a sigh of relief. "Bryce. Nicola. Damian." We nod and step forward. "You will be doing a last chance performance for Ryan Murphy tonight." We nod. I knew this would happen.

"Bryce, You will be singing: Just The Way You Are By Bruno Mars." Zach says and he nods.

"Nicola, You will be singing; Big Spender. From Sweet Charity." Robert says to me.

"Damian, You will be singing Jesse's Girl By Rick Springfield." Zach says.

"Ok guys, we will see you at 10pm." We nod and walk away. We hug and walk back into the main room to the guys. "Hey." We say and they hug us. I sit with Marissa and Lindsay. "So what do you have to sing?" Cameron asks after about 15minutes of silence. "Just The Way You Are." Bryce says. "Big Spender." I say. "Jesse's Girl." Damian says and Samuel won't hold eye contact with me. Great. "You can now go to your rehearsal rooms." It says up on the screen. We get up and hug everyone. I get to Samuel at the end and he hugs me. "You'll be ok." He says and I smile. "Don't miss me too much." I say with a wink and we walk down the corridor together. We go into our individual rooms and I read over the song. I listen to it about 10 times and then sing it another 10. I wait back stage and listen to Bryce sing. "He is really good." I say to Damian and he nods. "Yeah." Bryce walks back and sits on a chair. "Good luck." They say to me and I walk on to the stage. My eyes go straight to Ryan Murphy and my stomach tightens. "Hello." He says to me. "Hello, I am Nicola McSheffrey." I say and he nods. "What will you be singing today?" I smile. "I am going to sing Big Spender From Sweet Charity." I say and sing it.

I smile and the music stops playing. "So Nicola." He says and I nod. "You have a different taste of music to the others in the house." I nod. "Yeah." I say and laugh to myself. "I like rock music, I'm a metal head." I say and he nods. "And how do you feel about performing songs like this?" I nod. "I'm happy with it. I mean, I don't mind singing pop music but I love rock music." He nods. "There is few characters we haven't had on the show, which I would like to explore." I nod. Holy crap. "You also had some homesickness?" I nod. "I don't think it was so much me missing home, as me thinking I don't belong here." He looks at me. "Why do you think you don't belong here?" I look down and then up at him. "These people are amazing singers and dancers and I feel like I am just there, just blending in." He nods. "Well, You have a very strong voice and we picked you out of 40,000 people. I think you'll be ok." I smile and he nods. "Thank you." I say and walk back out to Bryce and Damian. I hug Damian and he walks on stage. "That was scary." I say and he nods. I sit beside him and he puts his arm around me. I put my arm around his back and Damian walks back off stage. He looks at us and we walk back into the house. I go past the living area and go straight to the bathroom. I look myself in the mirror and nod. I got this far. Whatever happens next, doesn't matter.

I walk back in and sit down in between Samuel and Lindsay. "You ok?" I nod. "Yeah." I say with a smile and we hear footsteps. I look down and Robert walks in. "The list is up guys. I go take a look." He says, rubbing his hands together. We nod and he walks out. We all stand up and hug. I walk with Damian and Bryce. We all hug and we walk out together, before we get to the list, the three of us hug and Damian goes to the list first. He goes into another room and I walk out. I look at the list from a distance. I walk towards it and make myself look. I read down through the list of names. "Oh My God." I say and re-read it.

"Not Called Back: Bryce"

I walk into the room with Damian and hug him. After a few minutes, we all walk together into the choir room and hug Bryce. "You do not leave until Sunday." It says on a large screen. He nods and MyKynleigh stays with him and we all get changed. I put on a red dress and black heels. I fix my make up and hair and we all walk out together. We meet up with the guys and go out through the front door.


	12. Chapter 12

We walk down the street and go into a club. We get a round of drinks and start dancing. I sit in a corner with Samuel, Lindsay and Damian. A guy walks by with his friend and they smile at me and Lindsay. We smile back and they sit at the bar. They look at us every few seconds and Lindsay giggles. "So, ugh, are you still homesick?" Samuel asks me and I shake my head. "I'm good." A waitress comes over and sets two drinks down in front of me and Lindsay. "From the guys at the bar." We smile and I get up with the drink.

Cameron takes my seat and Lindsay sits smiling at one of the guys. I set the drink on the table and shake my head. "I don't take drinks from strangers." I say with a smile. "We don't have to be strangers." I nod. "With cheesy lines like that, you sure as hell will be!" I say and walk back over.

"He's not as cute as I thought." Lindsay says with a frown. I nod. "He is too cheesy." I say and sit on the arm of the sofa beside Cameron and Samuel pulls his chair closer to me. "See anybody you like?" I ask him while scanning the room. "Nope." I nod and Cameron looks at me and Samuel.

"Go dance and get out of my way." Drunken Cameron not fun. But... We could make him get a tattoo, no, that's mean. I look at Samuel and he nods. We walk out on to the dancefloor and start dancing.

After an hour, we get off the dancefloor and order more drinks. I sit on Lindsay's lap and laugh when Damian takes a picture of us. "Bathroom?" I nod at Marissa and Lindsay gets up too. We all link arms and find the bathroom. Marissa goes into a cubicle and I fix my lip gloss. Lindsay sits in a sink and I take pictures of her.

Marissa walks out and washes her hands. "The guys got jealous." We look at her. "We seen them from the dancefloor." we laugh and all sit together for a picture.

"SPIN THE BOTTLE!" Alex shouts and I shake my head. "Not in a club." I say and grab the spinning bottle.

They nod and I feel someone tapping my arm. I turn around to a buzzed Samuel. "Cover me." I nod and he walks away.

When he gets back, we manage to get everyone out of the club and start walking back-while we can walk back. Emily gets three bottles of vodka and 6 bottles of coke from an off license and we get in the house. I sit down and get a drink.

Someone puts on some music and we keep drinking-and drinking-and drinking.

I wake up, in the boys dorm, in Samuel's bed. I look around and he walks in. "What happened?" I ask and see all the unconscious contestants, half of the girls are on the guys beds. Lindsay is lying in Damian`s bed, but Damian is lying beside Cameron.

Samuel laughs. "I guess for an irish kid, you can't handle your drink." I nod. "Did we?" I ask him and he laughs. "No, you passed out in the living room, then you woke up and you wouldn't go to your own bed. So I put you in mine." I nod and look at him. "I slept in the girls dorm." I smile and he sits on the edge of his bed. "Hows your head?" He nods. "Fine, you?" I smile. "Ok, I just can't remember much." He laughs. "What do you remember?" I look into space and then at him. "I remember dancing with you and leaving. I remember Emily going to the off license and us getting back here and drinking. What did I miss?" He laughs. "Nothing really. We all just sat drinking and talked about random things like music. You argued with Damian about some competition thing in Ireland." I nod and laugh, remembering the argument about Ireland's got talent. They all start waking up and Samuel looks at me. "Are you going to get out of my bed, or?" I look at him wide-eyed. "Yeah, sorry." He laughs. "I'm kidding." I nod. "I don't like your sense of humour." I say and he lifts the blanket and i move over. the pair of us lie there and I lift my ipod. I go on twitter and start tweeting random stuff.

"Great night out, sad that it was celebrating one of us leaving though. Kiddo's, always drink responsibly." I write and Samuel laughs. He takes out his iphone and tweets.

"I can honestly say that yesterday was the scariest night yet. I guess you'll understand when you see the show on sunday." He tweets and I smile.

"This place looks like the morning after the apocalypse. Everyone have turned into zombies. Except Pink Shorts. He looks great!" I write and he laughs.

"I'd say the same Nicola, but you have eyeliner on your cheek and slept in my bed because you were so drunk!" I hit him.

"I was tired and I don't recall asking to sleep in your bed. but you slept in the girls dorm! haha" He smiles.

"I don't think you can recall anything right now. You have Amnesia Toto." I laugh and hit him.

"I'd say got a room, but we're in one. I'd say get a bed. But your both in one!" We look over at Damian and burst out laughing.

"Yeah, how the hell did you end up in a bed with Cameron?" I write and he looks up. "You could have asked, you didn't need to tweet about it!" I laugh.

"Nevermind that, why the hell am I in Damian's bed and why is Matheus passed out on the floor!" Lindsay tweets and we all get up and look. We burst out laughing and he doesn't move. Cameron pokes him and he lifts his head, he has a carpet mark on the side of his face.

We get up and see MyKynleigh and Bryce sleeping beside each other. "She is really going to miss him." I say and Samuel nods. "I know." I look at him. "You'll miss him too." I say and he nods. "Yeah, I thought I was going to lose you for a minute." I look at him. "Thanks for having faith in me." He laughs. "You looked terrified." I smile. "I wasn't too bad, I walked out and Ryan asked me about the music I liked and stuff and about me being homesick, that was it really." He nods. We walk back out and lie back up on his bed. "Are we going to spend every saturday like this?" I ask and here shouting from the bathroom. "God I Hope Not!" It's hannah, throwing her guts up. Nice. I walk into the living area to see the rest of the contestants lying on sofa's asleep. I walk back into the kitchen and get a bowl of magic charms. I get some and give them to Samuel and Damian, Cameron walks in and he talks to me but I huff.

"What is wrong with you?" I look at him. "You're an angry drunk." He looks at me wide-eyed. "What did I do?" I look at the box of magic charms. "You made me dance with Samuel." We all burst out laughing and Lindsay walks in. "Do we have anything on today?" I shake my head. "I don't think so." She sits down beside me. "We should do a twitcam later." Cameron says. "That sounds good." Samuel says and we eat our cereal. It's like. "2pm." I nod. "Yeah." Marissa walks in and she looks at me. "You are still wearing your dress." I look at the rest of them, in pyjamas. "Marissa, I don't even remember going to bed. The fact I am wearing my dress right now, really doesn't phase me." She laughs and gets a bowl of Magic Charms. "We are going to do a twitcam tonight. "All of us?" I nod. "Yeah, If we can all sit that long." Samuel says and we finish eating.


	13. Chapter 13

8pm

We fix our makeup and hook the webcam up to my laptop, which I love and haven't shown anyone yet. You know those specially made laptop skins you can get? I have one of those on it of the Black Veil Brides Boys. They all stare at it. "Metalhead." Matheus says and I laugh. "Black Veil Brides are Rock N Roll." I say and start up the laptop.

We log on and within seconds 3,000 people are watching us do a twitcam.

Samuel: Wow.

Me: Yeah.

Alex: Hi Guys!

We All Laugh.

Bryce: We Are The Final 12 Of The Glee Project Class Of Season 1.

WOOO!

MyKynleigh: What do we say?

Matheus: They Should Ask Us Questions.

Marissa: Ask Us Questions Guys! We don't bite.

Damian laughs.

Damian: Speak For Yourself!

He pretends to bite Lindsay's neck and we laugh.

Emily: Who here has the best range?

All Of Us: Alex.

He smiles.

Alex: You guys have good ranges too.

Cameron: Who Is The Most Lovable?

Samuel: Nicola.

I Laugh.

Me: Samuel.

We laugh.

Me: I think we all love each other right now. I mean, we haven't had any real fights. But it's actually Marissa.

Bryce reads the screen.

Bryce: Not Damian?

I laugh.

Lindsay: He tried to kill Nicola!

Damian: No I didn't!

Marissa: Is there any romance in the house?

They look at me and Samuel and we laugh.

Samuel & I: WE ARE NOT TOGETHER!

Me: But I can see some other things starting in here.

Damian: Just make out already!

He says to me and Samuel.

Samuel: Can I ask you guys a question? Twitterworld? Is It Possible to be friends with a girl? Or is that like, against the law?

I smile.

MyKynleigh: Did Anyone Leave Last Night?

Bryce: No, The First Contestant does not leave the show until after the show is on 9/8 central tomorrow.

Matheus: Does anyone have any crushes in the house? This could get interesting. I don't.

Cameron: Well, I have a crush on Damian.

Samuel: I think we like might all have crushes in the house. But like, this whole thing could make the next few weeks awkward, so, maybe we can skip this one?

We nod.

Me: Cameron, who is your favourite character on glee?

Cameron: My favourite character would have to be Finn. Because he is just this tall awkward guy.

Marissa: Who is the tallest in the house?

Matheus: Me!

We smile.

Alex: Nicola.

Damian: I think it is Samuel.

Lindsay: Guys, Stand up.

We get up and she measures us.

Lindsay: Samuel, flatten the dreads down.

I laugh and we sit back down.

Lindsay: Samuel is a tiny bit taller than Nicola, so it's Samuel

Bryce: MyKynleigh, who have you gotten closest to?

MyKynleigh: Other than you? Ehm, I think Matheus and Emily.

Bryce smiles a little and we move one.

Damian: Nicola, Have you watched the video Jager posted after you got food poisoning?

I shake my head.

Me: I actually forgot to check it. I'll watch it later.

Lindsay: Hannah, what was your favourite bit about shooting this weeks music video?

Hannah: Running about on set and just getting to be on screen was fun.

Alex: Does anyone in the house have a nickname? A couple of people call me Mr. Diva.

Cameron: I'm Nerd.

Damian: I'm Irish.

He laughs at himself.

Samuel: I'm Pinkshorts, and this is Toto.

Me: Hi.

I wave at the camera.

MyKynleigh: I'm Bumpkin.

Damian: Why don't we play dares?

We laugh.

Bryce: This could go terribly, terribly wrong.

MyKynleigh: Bryce, eat a raw egg.

He goes to the fridge and gets one, along with a glass. He cracks the egg, pour it in the glass and drinks it.

Emily: Gross!

He sits down and we read the screen.

Damian: Samuel, put your arm around Nicola. Awk guys that ain't a dare, they walk around like that all the time!

He puts his arm around me and I play with his hand.

Samuel: Emily, Lift Matheus

The pair of them stand up and she lifts him.

Alex: Damian, what are your feelings about Lindsay?

He smiles and goes a wee bit red.

Damian: Uhm. Well, she's a great girl, she's very funny and she makes me laugh. And she's not too bad on the eyes either.

We smile at them and read the screen.

Marissa: Samuel, what are your feelings for Nicola?

He smiles.

Samuel: She's great. She makes me laugh, I care about her, she's my best friend.

I smile.

MyKynleigh: And Nicola?

Me: I trust him.

He looks at me and I nod.

Damian: okey dokey. What's next?

He says reading the screen.

Lindsay: Cameron, who do you want to win?

Cameron: Me.

We smile.

Bryce: What is it like being the one in the show, rather than being the one watching it?

Me: if you're watching it, you have favourites and when they leave you pick someone else that you want to win. In here, when people leave, we lose best friends.

I say and all have a group hug.

Emily: Well this has been emotional, maybe we could finish up? We nod and say goodbye.


	14. Chapter 14

The Next Day At 6pm.

We go on to the stage and film keep holding on for Bryce. MyKynleigh starts crying after we finish and he hugs her. We get a message from Robert telling us to get dressed up, we have to go to the premier of The Glee Project.

An Hour Later.

We get in the limo and are joined by-by-b-by- DARREN CRISS AND HARRY SHUM JR! They smile and we turn into a group of giddy kids. We get out at a theatre and sign autographs. A projector goes up the side of the building so that everyone can see it. A girl stops me and smiles.

"Is this, not like, crazy?" I nod. "I'm freaking out." I say and she laughs. "I'm sure it's great." I smile. "Yeah, I hope." She hugs me and I get a picture with her. I bump into Samuel and we walk together. "What is it like living in a house with 11 other people?" We smile." We are living with our best friends." Samuel says and I nod. "Nicola, you said on the twitcam last night that you trusted Samuel. What did you mean by that?" I nod and he smiles. "I don't trust people easily. But I trust him. That's it really." I say with a smile. They nod and we stand for more pictures. I look at him. "Why are you smiling?" I ask him. "You trust me." He says with a goofy smile. "Yeah, a little." I say and he slaps me on the back of the head. I slap him back and smile. "Come on." He says and we walk up behind Marissa and Cameron. We jump and scare them. "HI GUYS!" We shout and we all burst out laughing. "Are you in a relationship Nicola?" I look down and Alex runs in. "We are getting married!" He shouts and runs out of camera shot again. I laugh and nod.

"Yeah, it is going to be a private ceremony." I say and they nod. "Probably in Narnia." They nod and we burst out laughing. "You guys, actually are best friends." They say and Cameron nods. "We love each other." He says and we all put our arms around each other. Lindsay and Damian walk over to us and smile. "Halo!" Damian says and I smile. "Are you guys really best friends?" They ask again and we smile. "We all respect each other and each others dreams. Y'know, we all want this, but, I think it's the friendship too." We smile.

"Give us your own little advertisement about why we should watch you six on The Glee Project." We nod. "Well, it's simple." We all say. "Where are you going to find; Two irish kids, one of which is a metalhead, the other you guys can't understand, a 19year old Michael Jackson fanatic who loves God and has dreads, A red head with black eyebrows, A perfectionist who was adopted and a nerd, who needs glasses, but wears contacts and then fake nerdy glasses on top? Only on The Glee Project; 9/8c only on Oxygen." We say and look at each other. "LIVE OUT LOUD!" We smile and walk into the theatre.


	15. Chapter 15

We take our seats and watch it. "Oh my gosh. I hate my voice." I say to Samuel. He laughs and Damian comes on screen- with subtitles.

We all burst put laughing and he nods. "VERY FUNNY!" He shouts to Robert Ulrich who laughs and we continue watching it. I come on screen and do my last chance performance and I hold my breath for a second. Lindsay smiles and leans towards me. "That was really good." She whispers. "Thanks." I whisper back. The part comes on where I talked about homesickness. Samuel pokes me in the arm and smiles. "What did I tell you?" He whispers and I nod. "Yeah, sorry." I say and he shows me my bracelet on his arm. I smile and we watch the part where Robert told us the list was up.

I look over at Bryce and he smiles at me. I nod and we see our own reactions. "I can't believe this. I mean. You guys are giving me another week? Thank you so much. I'm going to miss Bryce. I love the dude. I love everyone in there and it's sad that we have to say goodbye." I nod and he smiles at me.

"Wow My Good. Thank you so much. This means alot to me. The fact you're sending Bryce home really upsets mey, I love all the guys, and I need Nicola so someone knows what I am saying. But, Wow." We smile and I look at Lindsay and then at Bryce. The episode ends and we all get up and stand together. We smile for photos and walk out together and sign autographs, while Bryce does an interview. We sign autographs and take pictures together. "I loved the picture of you two outside the other night!" Samuel looks at me. "Well, it isn't hard to make her look pretty." I laugh and look at him. "Yeah, it is really hard trying to make him look hot." He hits me and I smile. "You two should just make out and get together!" I laugh. "We're good friends." I say and Samuel looks at them. "We don't want to ruin that." He says and they nod. "You just gotta make out." We laugh and walk on. We get back to the house and all look at Bryce.

He smiles and we all hug him, one by one. "Look after Sammy." He says to me and I laugh. A tear drops down my cheek and he laughs. "Don't start with the water works." He says and we all have a group hug. He hugs Samuel and MyKynleigh again before he goes and we watch him walk out the front door. I look over at Samuel and a tear rolls down his cheek


	16. Chapter 16

I walk over to him. "You ok?" I whisper and he looks at me. "My best friend just left." I nod and wipe the tear from his cheek with my thumb. "It's ok." I say and he nods. "I know." He walks to the boys dorm and I walk into the girls dorm and we comfort MyKynleigh. "It's not fair!" She says and starts crying. "We know 'Kynleigh." Hannah says and she shakes her head. "Nicola has Samuel, Lindsay has Damian, Emily talks to Matheus, Marissa talks to Cameron, Hannah talks to Alex. Now I have no-one." We smile. "We all talk." Marissa says and she smiles. "We all have cliques, don't deny it, we just all get on with certain people and the person I got on with, has left." We hug her and keep talking.

After a while, we start walking about and I go into the guys dorm with Lindsay. "You ok Sam?" Lindsay says to him and he nods and looks at his bed and then at me. I sit beside him and Lindsay sits beside Cameron, Damian walks in and throws himself on the bed with them. I look at the book beside Samuel's bed; The Bible. I should have guessed, he does have 'Jesus Christ' tattooed on the back of his neck. He looks at me and I half smile. "Where are we eating from tonight?" Cameron asks, in an effort to lighten the mood, he wasn't that friendly with Bryce, it doesn't effect him as much as it does MyKynleigh or Samuel.

I look at Samuel's hand and reach out for it and hold it. He looks at me and grasps my hand. "It's ok to be upset." I say and he half smiles. He's holding back tears. "Dude, you gotta just let it out." I say and he laughs. "You just called me dude." I nod. "Yeah, now let it out." I say and he shrugs. "I uhm, don't know if I want to." I laugh. I take my ipod from my pocket and give it to him. "I have music on my phone." I nod. "Yeah, but there is stuff in there that'll help you." I say and he smiles. Lindsay looks at me and points to our hands. I shake my head at her and he flicks through my Ipod. "You got a message from facebook." He says and I nod. "Open it." I say and he looks at me and I nod in approval. "What does it say?" I ask and he looks at me. "You want me to read it?" I nod. "Nicola, me again, why won't you return my calls, i mis-" I cut him off and grab my Ipod. "Let's delete the Facebook app." I say and delete it, before I give it back to him.

"You don't want to know what it says?" I smile. "I don't need to read it. I said all I had to the other night." They nod. "What's this one?" He says and points to 'The Morticians Daughter, by Black Veil Brides' "It's an acoustic song that Andy wrote when he was 15 and was in love. It's my favourite song." I say and he puts a headphone in his ear and listens to it. I smile and close my eyes, playing the lyrics in my head. I open my eyes and he smiles. "It's actually good." I nod. "Yeah, not all the music on there will make your ears bleed." He laughs and Cameron looks at us. "Guys, I'm hungry." We nod. "Chinese?" We nod. "Order in?" I nod and Cameron starts looking up Chinese places in town. "The Green Dragon is good." Samuel says. "Cameron is sitting googling stuff and we have an LA nut over there? Sorry Cameron." Damian says and Cameron laughs. He google's the menu and we all decided on what to eat.

While we wait on the food, Marissa walks in and sits on the edge of Damian's bed. "Emily wants to talk to you." She says to Samuel and he gets up and walks out. I lie up properly on his bed and play with one of the headphones. "Ok, please admit you like him." Cameron says and I laugh, "He is my best friend." He nods. "Yeah, Well you held his hand. We all just want you to kiss, can you please just kiss?" I laugh at him, So forward? This is not the Cameron we know and care about. "I wouldn't ruin a friendship like that." I say and he nods.

Samuel walks back in and looks at me. "Are you ok?" Damian says and he nods. "What did Emily want?" Marissa asks him and he looks up. "She was wondering if I was ok, and then she- told me she liked me."


	17. Chapter 17

What did you say back?" Lindsay asks him and he looks at his hands.

"I told her that I didn't think of her like that and that I wanted to stay friends. She got pissed off and started goin on about you and then she calmed down and walked away." We nod. "Food is here." Alex says and we walk out and get it.

We sit in the living area and I attempt to eat noodles with chopsticks. They laugh at me, the rest of them can use them perfectly, then you get to me and Damian; he is using one to stab his chicken and eat it of it, and i'm trying to lift noodles but they keep slipping off.

"Like this." Lindsay says to Damian and shows him how to hold them. "Im Irish! Not Chinese!" He says and sets his box down. He storms out and Cameron looks up. "Over react much?" He says while grabbing a piece of pepper. "I heard that!" Damian shouts, while walking back in. "Oooh sorry." Cameron says and laughs.

Damian sets his chopsticks on the coffee table and starts eating with a fork. "The fun of chinese food, is eating with chopsticks." Matheus says to him and takes the fork off him. He lifts the chopsticks off the table and tries to do it again. Hannah laughs at me. "You still can't do it!" She walks over to me and moves the chopsticks in my hand and helps me scoop some up. "There." I smile. "Thanks." I say and Marissa sets hers down. "I'm full." She says and we look at her and Alex lifts her box. "You've left half the box!" She looks down. "I don't need as much food to fill me." She says and we nod. "Have some prawn crackers." Cameron says and hands the prawn crackers, but she has no intention of eating them.

"If she is full, she is full, we can't force her." I say and slurp up more noodles. She half smiles and gets up and walks out.

We finish eating and I walk out to the fire exit with Lindsay. "What is up with her?" She says to me. "Who?" I ask her. "Emily!" She whispers and I shrug. "She likes him." I say and she says nods. "No, she doesn't!" I look at her. "What?" She nods. "I heard her talking to Alex, they just wanted to see how you would react." I laugh. "Well that's pathetic." I say and she nods.

Emily walks out to us with Marissa, Hannah and MyKynleigh. "Hey." They smile and I nod. "Hi guys." I say and play with my phone. "So, what did Samuel say?" MyKynleigh asks Emily. "He said that he just wanted to be friends." We nod. "How do you feel about that?" Lindsay asks her. "Great. I don't like him that much anyway." We nod and she turns to me. "How do you feel about Samuel, Nicola?" I look up from my phone. "He's a good friend." I say and take out my ipod.

"I have to see this Jager weatherby video" I say and play it.

"_Cutest couple of the year. Why do they keep denying it? Samuel Larsen and Nicola McDowney seem loved up, yet they haven't even kissed. I met up with them after their press interview and we got talking, even though she wasn't too well. Where he admitted he cared about her, and she said the same about him. And here it is_." I watch the two clips and nod. "UPDATE" it says in large letters. "_A date? Samuel & Nicola, hung out at Starbucks without any other members of The Glee Project, and they danced together at a night club. How cute!_"

I laugh and we go to open the door, but it seems heavier. We push it and hear 5 bodies hit the ground with a thud. I push it open and see them all lying there. "Hi." Cameron says from underneath Samuel and we all burst out laughing.

We walk into the choir room and look at the board.


	18. Chapter 18

"Rockability!" I shout and smile. Highway to Hell." Matheus says and we lift the song sheets for this weeks song challenenge. I get the first part. I smile and we stand up on the side stage. "Livin' Easy, Livin' Free." I sing and smile. We go through it a few times and get ready for bed. I walk into the confession room and sit down. The camera turns on and I smile. "Rockability. Wow. This is the kind of music I love and I think this will be a great week, I think this'll bring out the rockers in all the pop singers in there." I say with a smile and a wink, before going back out.

We practice again and start getting ready for bed. We sit in the living area and Damian throws me an apple and I eat it. "What do you want to do?" I shrug. "We could go sit out side?" Marissa says to us and I nod. "You will be freezing." Cameron says to me and Samuel throws me his hoodie. "Come on." He says and we walk out while I zip it up.

I sit beside Samuel, Lindsay sits, cuddled into Damian and Marissa is having a thumb-war with Cameron. I look up at Samuel and he pulls the hood up on me and we go on twitter and reply to our mentions. I take a picture if Lindsay and Damian and post it on twitter.

"And You Guys Say That There Is Things Going On With Me And Samuel." I send it and they both smile at us. I put my hands in my pockets and feel something- a lighter? I look at Samuel and then out at the LA Nightlife. There is scented candles in the house. How stupid could I be? He doesn't smoke! He starts taking pictures of us on his Iphone and I smile. We put our heads in close together and he takes it. He smiles at me and we look into each other eyes and I smile. He puts his arm around me and we sit together, I put my head on his shoulder.

We sit down and Robert Ulrich walks in. With Jonathan Groff. I hold my breath for a second and look at Sam and he smiles. "Hey guys." Robert says to us. "Today I am joined by Jonathan Groff, who plays Jesse St. James in Glee." We smile and nod. "Hi." We chirp up and I look at Lindsay and she smiles. "Hello. I am Jonathan Groff and I play Mr. Mean- and I performed Highway To Hell in the episode entitled "Hell-O" Which was the 14th episode of the 1st season. I love this song, it's a classic by AC/DC and I want to see you all put your own swing on it. I see you all are dressed and ready to go, so if you guys are ready." We get up and walk over to the stage. I walk forward and sing, flipping my head forward and with my hands out as if I am pushing down on something and pull back up.

We walk off stage and sit back down. "Wow." He says and we smile. They whisper to each other and Robert nods. "Well Nicola, that was a pretty awesome way to open it." I smile. "Thank you." I say and he looks at Samuel. "And you have the look." He smiles. "Well, this is really hard." We smile. "Samuel. You Have won the challenge." He smiles. "Thank you so much." He says and Jonathan looks at him. "I'm not finished." Samuel nods. "You also get to choose a friend as well." He looks at all of us and smiles. "Nicola." I smile at him and Jonathan. "You will be performing a mash up of Heads Will Roll By the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Thriller By Michael Jackson." We jump in our seats and smile. They leave and I hug Samuel. "Thank you so much!" I say and he nods. "Rockability, it's kind of your thing." I smile and he nods. We all walk out and they congratulate us and Samuel gets a text. "I'm going to meet Skip for coffee. I'll be back later." We nod and I give him his hoodie from the night before. He nods and goes.

I get a song sheet and read it. I get on twitter and start tweeting.

"This Is Going To Be The BEST Week Of The Entire Competition! So Excited!"

Marissa sits beside me and smiles. "You were great." I smile at Marissa. "Thank you." I smile and we all sit tweeting and start practicing the song. We finish it and mess around and paint our faces like zombies. We start laughing and take pictures. Samuel walks in and we all jump out and scare him. He jumps back and almost falls over. "You guys scared the crap out of me!" He shouts and I look at my laptop. "You Didn't!" He shouts and runs for my laptop. I run and stop him. I grab his waist and pull him back before running towards my laptop. I feel to arms grab my waste and he drags me back accross the floor. He falls over and I am on top of him. I roll off him and laugh. "It's still recording!" I shout and Cameron goes over to it and does Zombie faces into the webcam before saving the video. We get up and I pass him a song sheet. He reads over it and his eyes go wide. "Look what they gave me!" I walk over to his sheet and read it;

_Darkness falls across the land_

_The midnight hour is close at hand_

_Creatures crawl in search of blood_

_To terrorize y'alls neighborhood_

_And though you fight to stay alive_

_Your body starts to shiver_

_For no mere mortal can resist_

_The evil of the thriller_

I smile at him and Lindsay googles the Glee version on the video. We smile and watch it. Finn's part comes on and Samuel's eyes go wide. "I have to compete with that?" I smile. "You'll be great." I say and Robert Ulrich walks in. "Hey guys." We smile. "As you know, after the fourth episode is shot, we take a two-week break of filming, so we want to know what you guys are going to do, go home, stay here?" I look at Damian and he nods. "We were thinking about going home, for a week." Robert nods. "Yeah, i'd like to go home to." Matheus says and Robert nods. "The rest of us will probably just go home too." Marissa says and they all nod. "Ok, well i'll check back tomorrow to confirm, and then we will start getting you guys airline tickets and transport home." We nod at Robert and he walks out. "I don't want to go home." Lindsay says and Samuel nods. "Me neither. I live, like, right over there!" Samuel says and points out to the fire exit. We nod and I smile at them. We get up and start walking around again.


	19. Chapter 19

**10 Minutes Later:**

Damian walks over to me and sits up on the counter in the kitchen. "We could, just, bring them with us." I look at him. "You mean it?" He laughs. "Are you like, 12? Do you mean it? Do you really mean it?" He says in a 12-year-old-girl-mocking-tone. "'Course I mean it! We'll stay 10 days, spent 5 at yours and 5 at mine." I smile and hug him. "I love You Damian McGinty." He nods and gets a packet of crisps. "Like a sis Nicola." He says and opens them. He points it in my direction and I take one. "Hey Lindsay, Samuel, can we talk to you in here?" Damian shouts and they walk in.

They look at us and I sit up on the counter beside Damian. I lift a packet of crisps from the cupboard and open them. "We were talking." Damian says and they nod."We were wondering." I say and eat a crisp. "Yeah?" Lindsay says and I look at Damian. "Do you guys, maybe, wanna." Damian starts and eats a crisp. "Go home with us?" I say and they both smile and Lindsay jumps. "YES!" Samuel says and we laugh. "Yeah." Lindsay says trying to compose herself. "I've never been to Ireland before." Lindsay says and Samuel looks at us. "I haven't even left the country before!" I look at Damian. "Yeah, you probably shouldn't come to Ireland then. It will give you low expectations for the rest of the world." He laughs and we walk back in. "Hey guys." Marissa says and steals a crisp from my packet.

"We're going to Ireland with Nicola and Damian." Lindsay says and Samuel smiles. "Awesome!" Hannah says and we smile.

We practice the song, i have all of Santana's parts.

* * *

><p>I lie in bed and look around me, everyone asleep. I tip toe in the boys dorm and they are all asleep. I sit in the living area on the sofa and go through the song.<p>

I get dressed; a black Iron Maiden T-Shirt, Jeans and converse with Zombies painted on them. (You have to love the shops in LA!) I take out my phone.

In two and a half weeks, we go home. We're going to spend 5 days at home, 5 days with Damian's family. Samuel and Lindsay are coming with us. Do not tell anyone. Love You Xo.

I send the message to mum and read over the song again. "Darkness falls accross the land. The midnight hour is close at hand.." I turn around and see Samuel wearing a red leather jacket, with Damian and Lindsay walking like zombies behind him. I start laughing and they keep walking towards me. "Heads will Roll!" I say and Samuel pulls me off the sofa. "Let me go!" "Creatures crawl in search of blood. To terrorize y'alls neighborhood, And though you fight to stay alive, Your body starts to shiver, For no mere mortal can resist. The evil. of. the thriller." I hit at him and he laughs and sets me on the sofa.

"You guys are evil." I say and they laugh. Samuel takes his jacket off and walks about in his vest top and jeans. We walk into the kitchen and Damian makes us coffee. We all take a sip and try not to throw up. "How much sugar did you put in this?" Lindsay asks after swallowing it. "6." He says innocently and we push the cups in his direction.


	20. Chapter 20

"I need to get you a proper Zombie top." I say to Samuel and he smiles and walks out to put a T-shirt on. I make more coffee and set a cup aside for Samuel. "So Nicola, what do you think of the whole- Emily liking Samuel thing?" MyKynleigh asks me as she walks into the kitchen. Damian raises an eyebrow and I nod. "It doesn't bother me. You can't help who you like." I say and they nod. "Who do you like?" Alex says while putting sugar in his coffee. "Why does it always have to be about who likes who?" Samuel says while walking into the kitchen and I pass him coffee. "My ears were burning he says and they look at us. I sit up on the counter and drink my coffee. "She doesn't like me anyway." Samuel says and I look at him. "You heard her, she did it just to see how we would react." He says while taking a drink of coffee. He looks at the clock and hits me on the leg. "We have to go meet Jonathan." I nod and jump down. We set the coffee cups down and walk into the choir room.

He quickly joins us and sets a boom box on top of the piano. "Hey." We smile. "Hi." We say and look at each other. "RELAX!" He shouts and we jump and laugh. "So you guys are doing Thriller and Heads Will Roll." We nod and he looks at us. "You got your song sheets?" We nod and give them to him and he plays an edited version of the mash up back track. We sing and he nods. "Well that was great." We smile and he sits down. "The thing with Rockability. Is you have to own it. You have to feel it in your bones before you can walk out on a stage and do it." We nod and he smiles. "Let's go again." We nod and Samuel gives in a little and smiles while performing. "Now that, was awesome. You just have to lighten up a little." We smile and he claps his hands. "Ok, one more time." We laugh at each other and go again. "Now, if you can keep it like that, you guys are going to have no problems." We smile. "Thank you." Samuel says and Jonathan lifts his boom box. "Bye." He says and walks towards the door, he swings round in his heels and walks up to us. "I wouldn't be Jesse St. James, If I didn't have a trick up my sleeve." He says and hands Samuel a golden envelope. "Open it in front of everyone and read it out." He nods and leaves.

I turn to Samuel and hug him. "Thanks." I say and he nod. "No problem." He says and I look at him and hug him again. "I mean it. Thank you." He nods and smiles. He looks at the envelope. "I gotta know what's in this." I nod and we walk back out. "Hey guys." I say and they look at us. "Can we all go into the living area?" Samuel says and we all sit down, with him in front of us. "So, Jonathan gave me this and said I have to read it out to everyone." We look at each other and he opens it.

"That puny Glee club 'New Directions' Performed Thriller/ Heads Will Roll at a football game. In order to complete this weeks video, you will have to perform on friday night, to a crowd of 500 people. Good Luck, see you at Nationals, Vocal Adrenaline." Samuel says and we look at each other. "We are all going to die." Damian says and we laugh. Samuel sets it up on a shelf and walks out to the kitchen to make more coffee. I walk out to him with Marissa, Lindsay, Damian and Cameron. "So, are we going to get this T-shirt?" Samuel asks me and I nod. "Sure." I say and look at them. "You two coming?" Samuel says to Lindsay and Daminan and they nod. "We'll go to." Marissa says and we nod. "You sure?" Lindsay asks and Cameron looks at us. "Didn't know it was couples only." Cameron says and we laugh. "WE ARE NOT DATING!" We all shout and they smile. "Emily and alex don't like you, MyKynleigh is best friends with Emily now, Matheus hardly ever talked to us and Hannah is on the fence on whos side she will be on. They'll be after us next." Marissa says and we nod and get ready to go.

We walk outside and go down an alley way. _I Need To Make a Friend In LA. _I think to myself and look up. "What are we doing?" I ask Samuel and he smiles. He takes my hand and we all run up a set of steps. He turns to me and smiles. I look around and see Hot Topic, Culture Vulture, Gothic Alchemy, Kiny Bunny, 30+ Shops all dedicated to Rock N Roll. "Welcome to your LA." He says and I look around. I look at them and they smile. "Can I just leave the house right now and move here?" They laugh and we go to a shop that has absolutely everything imaginable inside. We all go off and I look at the taxidermy. "You are not bringing any of that into the house!" Damian says and I smile. "I'm just looking!" I say and walk over to Samuel, who is looking at T-shirts. "See anything you like?" I ask him and he shakes his head. "Nothing really my style." I nod and Cameron walks over. "We have to go." We look at him. "Why?" Samuel asks. "Marissa thinks the fox blinked." He says pointing at the fox in the taxidermy box. We look over at Marissa who keeps looking at it and flinching. We walk back out and walk into another shop- and another- then another. We get to Kinky Bunny and they shake their heads. "If we are photographed in there, the directors will go mad!" I nod. "Fine, you guys stay out here." I say and walk in by myself.


	21. Chapter 21

I walk over to the costumes and look through them. "Hi." A guy with snake-bites (lower lip piercings) and black hair with a fringe almost covering his eyes says to me. "Hi." I say back with a smile and pick up a 'Malice In Wonderland' costume (AKA Dead Alice in the Underland.) "You're the girl from The Glee Project, the metalhead, right?" I nod and put the dress back down. "That's me." I say and walk over to the necklaces. "I think what you are doing is awesome." I lift up a black and red necklace. "What am I 'doing'?" I ask and he smiles. "Showing Glee that they need a metalhead." I nod. "I'm not 'showing' anything, i'm being me." He nods and smiles. "You're really pretty." I smile and keep walking. "So, you're a metalhead like the rest of us?" I look at him and he points to his friends standing in the girls section. "Nope. I'm a metalhead like the minority in Ireland." I say and walk towards the guys tops. "You are really pretty." I look at him. "You said that." he nods. "Just making sure I got my point accross." I nod and go through boys tops. "Getting something for your boyfriend?" I shake my head. "For my friend." He nods. "Well in that case." He says and puts his hand on my waist. I shake him off and keep walking. "No." I say and he laughs. I go to the other side and he follows me again and holds onto me. I try and shake him off but he won't let go. "Let go of me." I say and he smiles. "Let go of her, buddy." I look up at Samuel, who has Cameron and Damian behind him. "Wow. Calm down." He says and puts his hand on the other side of my waist. "Let go." Cameron says and the guy laughs. "You say your a metalhead, yet you hang out with these guys? A nerd, a prep and some indie kid?" He says, nodding at Samuel. "No. I'm a metalhead. These guys are Cameron, Damian and Samuel." I say and look at him. "How do you even assosciate yourself with an indie kid?" He says and Samuel gets cross. "Let go of her." Samuel says again. "It's ok." I say and turn around to face the guy and I put my hands on his. The guys look at me in shock and I see Marissa nudge Lindsay threw the corner of my eye. I put a strand of the guys hair behind his ear and look at him. I go up to his ear. "Let go of me." I whisper and he smiles. "You want this." He says back and I look at him. "I'm not into that part of the scene." I say and pry his hands off me. He smiles. "All metalheads are." I nod. "Then i guess i'm not like everyone else." I say and walk with Samuel, Damian and Cameron to the till to buy my necklace. We walk out and I smile. "Thanks guys." I say and Damian nods. "Anything for a sister." he says and hugs me. I smile and walk with Samuel. "Indie kid?" I look at him. "It's all about Labels." I say and he nods.

We go into Hot Topic and i look around. "If you guys loved me, you would buy me this shop." They smile and Marissa looks at me. "We love you, but were not millionaires." I nod. "Yet." I say and smile. Marissa looks at me. "What do you mean?" I look at them. "Ok, hypathetically, none of us win, which is highly unlikely since you are all amazing, but still." I say and they nod. "Lindsay, you'll be on broadway. Marissa, you'll be an RnB singer. Damian, you'll be in a band or a solo artist out here. Cameron, you'll be a singer-songwriter, same with you Samuel; and you have Skip. And you will act somewhere down the path in your careers." I say and they nod. "And you?" Cameron asks me. "I'll try and get in a band out here." I say and they smile. We walk off and look at stuff. I go over to the guys T-shirts with Samuel and we lift up t-shirts. I lift up a t-shirt and hold it against him. "What do you think?" I ask and he looks down. "I like it." I smile and he nods and takes it to go try it on. I look over at the till and see a girl with pink hair. Hmm, I could be friends with her.

I walk towards her and tap her on the shoulder. She turns around. OMFG. I just tapped Jeffrey Starr on the shoulder. He looks at me and I grab a Jeffrey Starr wristband. "Would you sign this for me?" He nods. "Sure thing Honey." I smile and he gives it back, I put it in my basket and he does a double take. "You're the girl that likes BVB on The Glee Project?" I nod. "yeah." I say and he nods. "What is your twitter?" He asks and gets on his phone, I give him my username and he hits follow. OMFG. Jeffrey Starr follows me on twitter. He holds his phone up. "Photo." He commands and I nod and stand with him to take it. He smiles and nods. "Bye." He says and I smile. "Hey, Jeffrey." I say and he turns around from the door. "Yeah?" I smile. "Say hi to the BVB boys for me?" He nods. "Sure thing doll." He says and closes the door behind him. I turn around to see Damian. "Pinch me." He looks at me. "What?" I look at him. "Pinch me." He does as I say. "Ouch! So I'm not dreaming?" He shakes his head. "You are not dreaming." I smile and walk back over to the changing rooms. "You ok Sam?" I shout in and he pulls the curtain back. "Yep." I smile at him in his zombie t-shirt. "You look awesome." I say and he laughs. "Turning American?" I smile. "You wish." I say and he laughs. Lindsay sticks her camera up and Samuel grabs me and pulls me into shot with him and we smile. She sends it to twitter and he goes back in to take it off. "Pass me out your t-shirt." I say and he hands it out so I can put it on the hanger, I set it in my basket and lift some Black Veil Brides Merchandise before walking over to Lindsay and Cameron. "What you got?" I ask Lindsay and she shows me while Marissa walks over. "A 6 part friendship bracelet." Lindsay says with a smile. Each piece is shaped like a jigsaw and is a different colour, all linked together, they create a heart. I smile and Samuel walks over with Damian. "What is it?" Damian asks while Damian looks at it. "Friendship breacelets? Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realise we were 8." Marissa hits him on the back. "We are all going to pay $2 and we are all going to wear one." He nods. "Yes ma'am" he says and laughs.

I go up to the counter and hand Lindsay $2 while I pay for my things and Samuel goes to lift the T-shirt. "What are you doing?" I ask and he smiles. "I'm buying my t-shirt." I shake my head. "No, I am." I say and he shakes his head. "I am." Cameron cuts in. "If you two do not stop bitching, I will buy it for you!" I laugh and take it from Samuel and pay for it. We walk outside and Lindsay takes the label off. "You couldn't wait until we get home?" Damian asks and she looks at him. "And flaunt it in front of them? You are cruel!" He laughs and we all take one, I get the purple piece, Samuel blue, Lindsay orange, Marissa yellow, Damian green, Cameron red. We put them on and walk home.

Robert Ulrich walks in with a clipboard. "Ok guys, have you made up your minds?" We nod and he looks at his clipboard.

"Alex?"

"I'm going home."

"MyKynleigh"

"I'm going home."

"Marissa."

"I'm going home."

"Cameron."

"I'm going home."

"Emily."

"I'm going home."

"Hannah."

"I'm going home."

"Matheus."

"I'm going home."

"Damian."

"I'm going home."

"Nicola."

"I'm going home."

"Lindsay."

"I'm going with Nicola and Damian to Ireland."

"Samuel."

"I'm going to Ireland too."

He nods. "I'll start getting things ready." We nod and he walks out.


	22. Chapter 22

We get into the van and are driven to the studio for Choreography with Zach.

We walk in and he smiles, Brooke comes in and they give us an evil smile. Great. "So this week, you guys are doing Thriller/Heads Will Roll." We nod. "This will be your hardest week out of all of them." We look at each other and nod. "You'll start off by being in the corridor, of your prom. You'll all be hanging out and you'll here a thunderstorm. Emily is hit by lightning and one by one turns them into zombies, but Samuel takes Nicola and you run. Eventually, the zombies catch up with you and turn Nicola into a zombie to. Samuel, you lure them all into a closet and lock them in there. Then that will be us finished shooting." We nod. "Then, your big performance." We nod. "The football pitch we will be using, is a prop one that is used for shooting movies, so there is a tunnel underneath it. you'll all burst out of the ground when Samuel runs accross the pitch. you perform the original mashup dance that New Directions did and the girls will crawl over Samuel, you'll have makeup like eyeshadow and stuff in hidden pockets of your dresses so that you can paint him like a zombie. Samuel will pop up and will do the part that Finn had, at the end Samuel does the iconic laugh from Thriller and Nicola you shout "OFF OFF OFF WITH YOUR HEAD." And then you will all fall on the ground as the smoke clears." We nod. "Yep, we are gonna die." Alex says. "Theorettically of course." Brooke adds in and we laugh.

We practice for about four hours and Damian looks at Samuel in the mirror. "This is your fault." He shouts and Samuel looks up. "How?" He asks while reaching out. "You opened the envelope!" He shouts back and I laugh. "I had to!" He shouts and we look at Zach who is watching us at the side of the room with Brooke. "No you didn't! You could have pretended to forget about it or something!" Marissa adds in while crawling accross the floor. "He had no option, you would have had to do this anyway." Zach shouts over the music and Samuel nods. "Thank you Zach!" He shouts. We smile and do a spin, Lindsay falls over and I walk over to her. "Are you ok?" She nods. "Yeah, I just landed on my back." Brooke walks over and Zach throws her and ice pack. "Come on." She says and sits Lindsay on a chair. "I'm fine!" She protests but Brooke nods. "Just rest it for half an hour." She nods and we keep practicing.

After another hour, and with Lindsay back on here feet we are told we can go home. We get back to the house and my ipod bleeps. "Met the Rock Chick from The Glee Project. She Ain't A Poser. Love You Bitch, Xo." I click on it and see the picture of me with Jeffrey and smile. "Wow." I say and they laugh.

Samuel walks outside and I sit on a chair and read through my tweets. "I love you all with all my heart, my mentions are going crazy!" I tweet and smile. My phone bleeps and I look at it. "I told you that you had a big heart. Just big enough to fit your fans in (; You coming outside? getting lonely. ):" I look at it and smile. "Sure." I write back and walk out to him. "What's up?" I ask him and he shrugs. "Just lonely." I nod and stand beside him, we lean over the edge and look down. "Thanks for earlier." I say and he looks at me. "You have to stop thanking me." I smile. "I will at some stage." I say and he laughs. He pulls me towards him and I hold the bar, he hugs me in a way where I am in the inside and he is leaning against me. "Samuel." He looks down at me. "Yeah?" I smile and look up. "Thanks for being my best friend." I say and he winks at me.


	23. Chapter 23

We wake up and get something to eat. Marissa doesn't have much as usual and we start getting ready. "Morning Nicola." I smile at Lindsay. "How is your back?" I ask while putting my cardigan on. "Fine. Need to practice today though." I nod. "Yeah, we definately need to put some hours in." I say and she nods and puts a baggy t-shirt on. We walk out to see Damian, Alex and Matheus practicing. We join them and try to keep it together, but somebody grabs me from behind. I turn around and see Cameron. "What? who did you think I would be?" He asks with a wink and sets me down. I laugh at him and we all practice together. Samuel walks in and looks up at us; his dreads sticking out every direction, his eyes heavy and his bottom lip quivering slightly. I look at him and he looks away. "Samuel?" I ask and he looks up and smiles. "You ok?" He nods. "Yeah, just tired." I nod.

We start practicing and they eventually all wake up and get dressed. We go to meet Nikki at the studio and I look at Samuel. "Sam, will you come with me to the vending machine?" I ask while standing up from the waiting room. He nods and we walk out together. I look around and pull him into the corner. "Wow." He says, looking at how closely pressed together we are. "Easy there." I say and he smirks. "What's up?" I ask and he nods. "I'm tired." I nod. "Now tell me why you looked like you were gonna cry this morning." He looks up and then at me. "Pressure." He says and I nod and look at him with a smile. "This is your song." I say and he smiles. "This is the song that you are going to ROCK." He laughs and nods. "You're amazing, you know that?" He says and walks out and over to the vending machine. "I wish." I whisper and get a bottle of water.

Nikki walks in and looks at me and Samuel. "You ready?" We nod and walk into the booth. She nods and plays the back track. We nod along and I start singing. "Off with your head, Dance, Dance, Dance till your dead. I'm Off Off, Off With Your head. Dance, Dance, Dance 'til your dead. I'm off off off with your head." She smiles and looks at Samuel, he nods and starts singing. He smiles and when we finish Nikki nods. "That was really good guys, really good, will you go get everyone Samuel?" He nods and goes out to get everyone else. They get in and we squeeze in, I end up being pushed to the back and Marissa pulls me forward, threw them all. I smile at her and we sing the chorus. Nikki nods and tells us girls to go out so that the guys can record the Thriller parts of the song. When they walk out, we go back in to record Heads Will Roll.

"You girls have some serious competition, the guys did really well." We nod and she gives Lindsay a sort of squinty-mean look before looking down at the sound board and starting the music. We start singing and when we finish she looks at us. "Marissa, I need you to hold the end of 'Roll' a little longer, Lindsay, try and come down in your pitch, you're screeching." Lindsay nods and the music starts again, we sing it again and she nods. "Ok." We nod and walk out, we go over to the guys and all get in the van and go home to practice. "You weren't screechy." I say to Lindsay and she half smiles. "What ye talkin' about?" Damian asks and I look up from the bed Lindsay and I are lying on. "Nikki said Lindsay was screeching." He rolls his eyes. "Well we could hear you and you sounded pretty damn perfect to mey." He says with a smile and he sits beside Matheus. We get up and walk into the hallway and lean against it. We lean against the walls and Emily pretends to be struck by lightening. We watch her go towards Alex and Samuel grabs my hand and we run into the bedroom and let go of each other. We look around, pretending to be outside. They walk in, pretending to be zombies and they grab me. Samuel looks around and runs back into the hallway and opens the door to the boys dorm and we walk in. We all walk out like normal and lie down on the floor of the choir room. Samuel runs in and looks around, we jump up and start performing the dance, we grab Samuel and crawl all over him. "This has got to be every guys dream!" He shouts and we laugh at him. "Not every guy!" Alex shouts and I laugh. Samuel gets up and we all do the Thriller-Zombie-Walk. We collapse on the ground and perform the original dance from Glee.

We get off the ground and get up. We get lunch and I walk into the choir room with Cameron and Lindsay. One-by-one we everyone walks in and we sit chatting. Hannah walks in and stops at the door. We look up and she looks at us, then at Alex. She bows her head for a second and then walks over to them and smiles. "What did we tell you?" Cameron says while turning back around.

"You were right." I say and look over at them. "What did we even do?" Lindsay asks and Marissa shrugs. "We became friends?" Damian says and Samuel shakes his head. "We aren't looking at it as more than a competition, they just want to win, we are friends." Samuel says while looking at Matheus.

"But Hannah is too nice." Lindsay adds in. "Maybe she doesn't to be friends with a scene kid and the wannabees." we turn around and look at Emily. "We are NOT wannabees!" Marissa says and I smile. "And I ain't a scene kid." I say and put my feet up on my seat. They roll their eyes and turn back around. "So, what music should we be listening to this week?" Cameron asks and I smile.

"You should start with some Black Veil Brides preferably; The Morticians Daughter and Carolyn. Add in some classics; Guns N Roses and Bon Jovi, and finish with some VersaEmerge and The Pretty Reckless." I say and Cameron raises an eyebrow. "I stopped listening after The Morticians Daughter." Damian says and i nod. "It's the most important." I say and throw him my ipod and headphones. "Have a listen." I say and he nods. My cell rings and I answer it. "Hey cuz." The voice says and I nod. "Hi." I say and look at the fire exit. I walk out and sit on the ground. "What do you want?" I ask and she laughs. "I wanted to know how you are doing?" I nod. "I'm fine, just like I was fine before I left." I say and hear someone else with her. "You're not even going to ask me how I am?" I smile. "I Know how you are, everyone knows how you are." I say and look at the sky. "Damn straight." I laugh at her and hear someone say something. "I have to go." She says and I nod. "Bye." I mutter and stand up. She hangs up and I walk back in.

"What's up?" Marissa asks. "Nothing, it was just my cousin." She nods and Lindsay pulls me on to her knee. "I'm to heavy for you." I say and she nods. "Yeah." She says and drops me on the ground. I laugh and she pulls me back up. I sit on the chair beside her. Damian passes my ipod to Cameron and I smile. "We are going to practice." Alex says as everyone gets up. "You coming?" Cameron asks. I shake my head. "You don't want to be seen with a Scene kid." I say and he grabs my arm. "Who gives a shit." He says and I laugh.

* * *

><p>Next Day.<p>

We get up and get changed to go to the studio. "Ready to go?" Cameron shouts from the guys dorm and we nod. "YEAH." We shout and walk out to the hallway to meet them. "Zombie t-shirt?" I say to Samuel and he smiles. "Need to get in the mood." I nod. "Yeah, you aren't even going to be a zombie today." I say and we walk into the kitchen to get breakfast. I make some toast and set it out on the table. "Want some chocolate spread?" Samuel asks and I put out my hand for him to hand it to me. I look up and he is standing beside me. "What are you doing?" I ask and he puts chocolate spread accross my face. "Samuel Larsen!" I shout and hit him. "Nicola McDowney!" He says and tickles me. We sit down and Marissa sits beside me. she pokes me in the face and takes off some chocolate spread, eats it and nods. Lindsay walks over and licks my face. "You taste awesome." She says and I laugh at her while she goes to sit down. We eat breakfast and wash up. I go to the bathroom and wash the chocolate spread off my face and put my make up back on. "We are going to wait in the van!" Lindsay shouts. "Ok! I'll be right there."

I shout back and walk out, they are all gone. I walk out and get in, but Emily has put her feet up on my seat. I nod and look around, Alex does the same to the other spare seat and I feel a hand turn me around; Samuel. He sets me on his knee and the van starts moving. "Let's not tell the police." He says and I laugh. We go around a corner and I grab his leg before I fall off him and he sits back. "You ready?" MyKynleigh says to me. I nod. "Course." She nods. "It'll be alot of pressure, y'know, it's all based around you and Samuel really." I look down and we pull up and get out. "Straight into make up!" Erik shouts and we go into the girls dressing room. They do our hair and our make up. They put us into dresses and We take pictures together on our phones. "Makes up for missing my own prom." I say and they raise their eyebrows. "You didn't go to your prom?" I shake my head. "It's in a few weeks, I'll be here." I say and they smile. "Well then, we have to go out again." Lindsay says and I laugh. We take loads of pictures and walk out into the corridor, to see 5, very handsome guys.

Their eyes widen and they smile. "You guys look great." Marissa says and they just stare. "Dude." I say to Damian and he laughs and walks over to Lindsay. Erik puts us to where he wants us to stand. "Guys, just talk among yourselves and cuddle, basically, just look loved up. Then, Emily you will look out the window, at which point you will be struck by lightening." We nod and Samuel puts his arm around me. Emily is the only one without a guy and so she fixes herself and keeps looking at herself in the mirror; well at least she doesn't have to act. The camera rolls down and we all get close ups. Emily looks out the window and we hear a bang and everyone jumps. She falls to the ground and Erik shouts cut. He sends her to make up and she comes back like a zombie, with her purple dress slightly ripped. She laughs at herself and lies back down. We all stand and stare at her, Samuel grabs my hand and we run down the corridor. They shout cut and everyone goes into hair and makeup. Samuel and I wait on them and they comeback out, looking like they've been dead for a few hundred years. "They are going to take you Nicola, but we need you two to be staring at each other and you don't want to let go." Erik shouts and they walk towards me. We look around with no where to go, Emily grabs me and they pull me away. Samuel holds my hand until the last second.

I go into make up and they paint me. They rip my blue dress and I walk back out. "Drop dead gorgeous." Cameron says and I hit him. We all walk around like zombies trying to find Samuel. He walks into a store room and we follow him. We go towards him but he goes down low and scuttles past us on his handds and knees and locks the door. We lean against it and keep banging it. Marissa puts her arm through it and looks at me in shock. I nod and she unlocks the door from the outside. We get out and look down the hallway and straight into the camera's." That way." Damian growls and we walk towards the camera's and go past them towards the door. We open the door and nod. We walk out but Lindsay falls on purpose. Alex grabs her and we walk out. "That is a wrap!" Erik shouts and we all walk back in. Zach walks in and nods. "Now to practice!" He says and we go into the choreography studio.

We practice for two hours and go into hair and make up to have our make up taken off properly. Samuel sits in a spare chair and laughs as they wipe the gunk off. "This will be you tomorrow night!" Marissa says while they clean her cheeks. "Yeah!" Alex adds in and we laugh. "I'm just glad it's not me right now." He says and I nod. I hold up the green face paint. "You put chocolate spread on me this morning. Just imagine what I will do to you with this!" I say and his eyes widen. "I'm sorry!" He says worried and I get up when they finish with me. "Too bad sorry doesn't cut it." I say and he laughs.

* * *

><p>We go home, get changed and I lie down. "I'm tired." Lindsay says and drops down on her bed. "I guess you don't want dinner then." I say while sitting on My bed; right beside hers. "I always have room to eat!" She says and bolts up. I lie down. "Good, go make dinner while I have a nap." She reaches across and hits me. "Samuel! Damian! Cameron!" We say at the same time and high five for doing it in perfect unison. "Yes ladies." Damian says while walking in. "Can you guys order us food?" Lindsay asks and they roll their eyes. "You girls have no energy." Cameron mutters. Marissa walks in and lies in her bed at the opposite of us Lindsay(She swapped with Emily after the fight) "We're just conserving energy for tomorrow." Marissa says before yawning. "Pizza?" Samuel asks and we nod. "What will we have on them?" Damian asks. We look at each other. "I'll take pepperoni, red peppers and extra cheese." Samuel says and Damian types it into his notepad on his phone. "Me too." I say and Cameron looks up from the menu. "You guys should just get a large between you, it'll be cheaper." Samuel nods.<p>

"NICOLA DOESN'T SHARE FOOD!" I shout, imitating Joey off friends. They laugh and I smile. "I'm down with that." I say and Samuel nods. "I'll take chicken and chilli sauce on mine." Lindsay says and Cameron looks up again from the menu. "You can have a pizza with two sides: one side has one person's choice and the other is the other." She nods. "Well, i'll have Salami, lettuce, onions, peppers and chicken on my half then." Marissa says and Damian nods. "What about us Cameron?" Damian asks and Cameron shrugs. "Cheese, Chicken, pepperon-" Cameron starts and Damian turns around. "Meat feast with double cheese?" He nods and writes it down. "I'll go check with the others." Samuel says and walks out.

Cameron types in the number on his phone and orders. Samuel walks in and nods. "Two with extra cheese, one with pepperoni and extra cheese." Samuel says znd Cameron copies him. "It'll be ready in an hour." Cameron says while hanging up. We nod and the boys nod. "We'll leave you girls to sleep." Samuel says and Damian nods. "Weaklings!" he says as we go to sleep.


	24. Chapter 24

Someone is rubbing my shoulder. "Nicola." I open my eyes and look at Samuel in his pyjamas. I nod and get up. He gets off my bed and I lool at Lindsay and Marissa; being woken up by Damian and Cameron . The other two wake up and Cameron goes to lift the pizzas we all gave in a 5 Bucks each. Cameron turns around and I take a picture of him with all the pizzas and post it. He gives the pizzas to Emily and we walk into the living area. We sit down on the huge sofa bed and set the pizza boxes between us. We lift the lids off and the smell of pizza almost makes us high. We smile and grab pieces of pizza. Cameron holds up his phone. "So, Lindsay, why don't you tell all your fans what we are doing?" Cameron says while Lindsay trys to put the first piece of an extremely cheesey pizza in her mouth. She takes a bite and Damian leans over her and into the screen. "We are having a slumber party!" He says and we all start laughing. "Really?" Marissa says and Samuel nods. "we're in our PJs. eating pizza, Nicola had a face mask this morning, and I'm sure there are some dvds around here somewhere." Samuel says and eats a slice. "We should have gotten the pizza guy to get us popcorn." Lindsay says and I laugh. "Well I'm going to have some pizza, so Samuel, take this, would you?" He nods and hands it over. Cameron gets a slice of the pizza and eats it. "Why don't we play a game?" Samuel says and we look at him.

"What game?" I ask and take another piece of pizza. "Marry, Snog, Shoot?" Damian asks and we laugh at him. "Yeah, not going to happen." Cameron says and we laugh. "How about Marry, Snog, Shoot, Girl on Girl edition?" Samuel says and we laugh. "I'm game." I say and the guys clap. "Ok... Marissa, MyKynleigh, Lindsay." I nod. "Snog Lindsay, Marry Marissa, Shoot MyKynleigh." I say and laugh. "Lindsay." I say and she nods. "Me, Emily, MyKynleigh." She laughs at me. "Snog you. Marry MyKynleigh. Shoot Emily." We nod. Damian looks at you us. "You guys should totally make out!" He says to us and we wink at each other and laugh. "Marissa." She looks up and Lindsay does hers. "Hannah, MyKynleigh, Emily." She taps the bed and nods. "Snog Emily, Marry MyKynleigh and Shoot Hannah." She says and I hit her arm. "She betrayed us!" Marissa says while pulling cheese off the pizza. "You heard it first here beautiful people; The house is starting to split." Samuel says into the camera.

"Yeah, but I still love Cameron." Damian says and kisses him on the cheek. "Dude, I have a girlfriend." Cameron giggles and we laugh. "Ok, well guys, I think we're going to go. But we love you and we'll talk soon." Samuel says and grabs another piece of pizza. Marissa and Cameron finish theirs, Lindsay and Damian argue over the two last pieces; Which is bigger. I laugh at them. Me and my dirty mind. I go to lift my last piece and Samuel lifts it. "Excuse me?" I say and he leans over and feeds me it. "Now that is more like it." I say while taking a bite. "Am I forgiven yet?" He asks and I take another bite. "Hmm, maybe." I say and he smiles. "How about now?" He asks and leans forward again. I take another bite. "No." I say and he nods. "Ok." He says and eats the last part. "Should have forgave me." He says with his mouth full. "The crust is my favourite part!" I say and he laughs. "Tough!" He says while swallowing it.

I get up and find some DVDs. "We are going to watch a DVD. You guys wanna come watch it with us?" Marissa asks and Hannah walks in and sits down. "I didn't really want to shoot you." Marissa says and Hannah hugs her. "It's ok, I would have snogged and married the other two to." She says and laughs. "I don't want to fall out with you guys." She says and we nod. "You have this perfect little clique." We nod. "We are far from perfect." Samuel says and we nod. "Now, MOVIE TIME!" I say and they laugh, Samuel puts 'The Life And Death Of Charlie St. Cloud' In the DVD player. Hannah sits up beside me on the bed. Samuel looks at me and I smile.

He sits at the otherside with Cameron and my phone vibrates during the movie.

"I thought you were gonna sit with me."

I smile and text him back.

"Tough."

I look over at him and he nods.

"Fine, be that way."

I nod.

"Just remember, I get the green paint tomorrow."

He laughs and they nod. "Sexting?" Lindsay asks and I hit her. "No, just texting T-exting." She laughs and continues watching the movie.

We get up from the movie and go into the guys dorm. "Give me her ipod." Samuel says to Damian."You already heard it." I say and he nods. "Yeah, but I want t hear it again." He nods and throws him my ipod. "Be careful with the merchandise!" I shout and they laugh. Samuel lies down and listens to it. "Well this slumber party is no fun." Cameron says and I nod. "We could always play naked twister." Marissa says and we smile. "Nice One Tree Hill Reference." I say and she high fives me. "So, no naked twister?" Damian asks and Emily walks in. "I'm always up for Naked Twister leperachaun." He nods. "I was kidding. God, you guys need to lighten up a bit." She says and Cameron and Samuel's eyes bolt to Emily. "Don't take God's name in vain." Cameron says and Emily walks out.

I walk over to Lindsay and she grabs me. "Hey babe." She says and I smile. "Hey sexy. "I say and she laughs. I lie up beside her and she plays with my hair.

I wake up, In Cameron's bed along with Lindsay and Marissa, i check the clock; 6:30am. I look around and Samuel is asleep- with my headphones in. I walk over to him and take them out. Music is playing and I look at the playlist;

"Leave Home, Survive With Lyrics." I smile; My favourite playlist on my ipod. I smile and he moves in his bed. "Nicola?" He asks, opening his eyes while I take my headphones from his ears. "Go back to sleep. It's too early for you to be awake." I say and he nods. "Night." I laugh to myself. "Night Samuel." I say back and walk into the girls dorm. I lift my clothes and set them on a sofa. I sit on an egg chair and put my headphones in. I go on twitter and start tweeting;

"I Love It Here. Every Ounce Of Self Pity And Homesickness Is Officially GONE. I Am Here With People I Love, That Is All That Matters."

"Thank God None Of Us Had Guns Last Night, Our Version Of 'Snog Marry Shoot' Could Have Gotten Messy And You Would Have Gotten An Unsuspected End To The Glee Project."

"Yes, We Are Kind Of Splitting Up In The House Now, Even Though This Is Only The Second Week Of The Competition, It's Just Like High School; Little Cliques."

"We All Have Best Friends In The House, We All Have People We Tell Everything To And People We Tell Nothing To."

"I Don't Hate Anyone In Here. I Want To Get That Fact Straight Right Now."

"Tonight Will Undoubtfully Be The Scariest Time Of My Life; Hmmm, Compared To 'Goodmorning America' ? I'll Tell You After."

"I Have The Green Paint Tonight ;)"

"No, Those Are Not Song Lyrics."

"My Favourite Song Of All Time Is 'The Mortician's Daughter' By Black Veil Brides."

"Although, I Am Really Starting To Like Samuel And Cameron's Own Songs, And Samuel's Band; Bridges I Burn."

"So, It Is Currently 6:30am Here In America. I Woke Up In Cameron's Bed With Marissa And Lindsay, Samuel Had My Ipod And Now I Am Awake, Sitting In An Egg Chair, With No-one Else Awake. Off With My Head."

"Seriously, I Don't Know What I Am Doing Up At This Hour."

"Oh, And That 'Facial' Samuel Was Talking About? Yeah, He Put Chocolate Spread On My Face Yesterday Morning; Marissa Scraped Some Off, And Lindsay Licked Some Off Too."

"We Were Not Drunk."

"I Am Totally Spamming Your Timeline's."

"I Feel Sorry For People Who Wait For Me To Tweet All Day And When I Finally Tweet, They Aren't Online."

"The Conversation I Am Having With Myself In My Head Right Now Is Being Posted Here."

"I Just LOL'd At My Last Tweet."

"And At That One."

"I Need To Make Some Friends. Normal, Sane Friends. Not Ones Who Break Out In Song And Sometimes You Think Should Be In An Asylum."

"Yes Lindsay Pearce I Am Talking About You, Marissa Scraped Some Off My Face, But You Licked Me."

"But You Picked To Make Out WIth Me Over The Others So I Love You :*"

"We Didn't Make Out By The Way."

"The Ones Who Break Out In Song And Sometimes You Think Should be In An Asylum Are the Best Friends You Will Ever Have."

"You Can Quote Me On That."

"If You Want a Song To Listen To Today; Listen To Samuel's Song 'Sugar' He Wrote It Here & I Filmed The Video :D"

"Ok, I Think I Should Go Practice, It Is Now 7:00am."

"Although, One More Tweet..."

"...Sometimes I Feel Like This Place Is Big Brother, But We Have Awesome Egg Chairs."

"Which I Am Stuck In."

"Ok Guys, Bye Xo."

I smile at my tweets and get up.

I go on youtube on my ipod and play the song down low and practice.

By 8am, everyone is awake and making breakfast. We eat and Samuel holds the chocolate spread up to me. "Don't you dare." I say and he laughs. He sets it on the table and we have breakfast. We get changed and practice for 3hours.

2pm.

"Will you guys do a twitcam on saturday?" A girl asks us and we shrug. "Uhm, we don't know, we are seeing Ryan tomorrow." Damian says and she nods. "I love you guys!" Some little girl shouts and we walk into a press interview.

"Afternoon Contestants." Robert says and we smile. We sit down and seeing an empty seat, It makes us a little upset. It even has 'Bryce' taped on it and everything. We take our seats and the press look up. They stand up and we nod at them to ask us questions. "Nicola, you tweeted this morning about self pity and homesickness, explain?" She asks and Lindsay turns around. "When were you tweeting?" I smile. "When you were sleeping." She nods and I turn around. "I thought I wasn't good enough to be here and I was homesick. Have you met these people? They are the best friends you could ever have." I say and they smile. "How would you describe the house right now? Emily?" She smiles. "I think that there is some tension, but it is what I expected. I think we'll be over it soon." We nod and move on. "Hannah, you're the one that seems to be on the fence. One minute your with Alex and Emily, the next you're in a twitvid with Lindsay and Cameron, which side are you really on?" Her eyes go wide. "I don't think she is on either side." Matheus starts and sits up in his seat. "I mean, come on; we are all doing this together, and the things we might dislike about each other right now we will get over. We care about each other, if we want to admit it right now or not, and in eight weeks when the competition is over, we will still have cliques. But we will still be friends, because we are doing the biggest competition there is this summer together. One of us will be on Glee. The rest of us will be insanely happy for them. It's not about who's side, it's about who you get on with, Hannah is lucky and gets on with everyone, she's a great person because of that." He says and we smile. "Aww Matheus." Hannah says and kisses him on the cheek.

"Ok, how about we talk about the competition?" Robert says and looks at Cameron. "You need a minute?" He asks and Cameron shakes his head. "Matheus- it-it's just so emotional." He says and bursts out laughing. "Sorry." We laugh and smile. "What is the big mystery of tonight?" A reporter asks and looks down at us. "Terror." Samuel says and I nod. "Heads." I say and Lindsay nods. "Creatures." "Dance." Damian says and we smile. We raise our eyebrows and laugh. "Marissa nods. "Football." Cameron looks up. "Prom." Hannah. "Love." Matheus leans forward. "Lust." Emily looks up. "Fear." Alex looks up dramatically. "Death." he whispers and we smile.

"You take your own interpretations from that." Robert says and we stand up. We walk outside to screaming fans. "first 500 hundred to studio 95 football pitch tonight at 8pm, will get to see the one, and only live video performance for The Glee Project!" Robert shouts and we get into the limo after signing autographs. "One last practice?" Damian asks and we nod. "Sure." Hannah says and we nod. I sit in the corner and take out my ipod. I flick through the apps and take pictures of them. "I can't wait to get out there tonight!" Emily says and I nod.


	25. Chapter 25

We get back to the house and practice. I walk on to the stage with Lindsay. "Tomorrow." I say and she gulps. "We'll be fine." She says and I nod. "I hope so." I say and she entwines her fingers in mine. We smile and look over to where Ryan sits. She lets go of me and walks closer to the edge of the stage. "W-what's it like?" She asks and I shrug. "I could stand here and tell you that it's not that bad, that you do it and it is over in minutes." I say and she nods. "But I would be lying. You stand on this stage and you look at this guy- but he isn't just a guy- he is the head of Glee. It's scary as hell. Seconds turn into minutes. You slow down and for a second you think you're going to throw up-or-faint-or-both. But then he lets you go and you see your friends, you don't know if it's goodbye and you think of all the things you should have said and should have done. Then you see the callback sheet and you want to cry because you are so happy." She smiles. "No pressure." I look at her. "Burst out of that ground tonight, dance as if you are the only person there, it'll help, breath deep and claw your way to the top." I say with a wink and she nods. "Easy for you to say." I laugh. "Yeah yeah yeah." She wraps her arms around my shoulders and I lift her up. I give her a piggy back into the house and we laugh. I drop her the sofa and the screen lights up. "A Car will be lifting you at 7pm sharp. Eat dinner before you go. See you soon." We nod and Alex starts making dinner. I walk into the girls dorm and see Samuel on my bed. "Hey." I say and he looks up. "Hi." I smile and lie across the bottom of the bed. "What's up?" I ask and he shrugs. "Nothing. Just going over everything in my head." I nod. "I know the feeling." I say and he half smiles.

I take his hand and he smiles. "You can do this Sam. Stop doubting yourself." I say and he rubs my hand. "Whatever you say." He says and I get up and let go of him. I sit up beside him and hit him in the arm. "Stop over thinking it." He nods. I hit him again. "Stop hitting me!" I nod and hit him again. "I said stop." I nod again and hit him, he grabs my hand and holds it. "I told you to stop hitting me." I nod. "I know." He laughs and lets go of me. "Time for food!" Alex says and we walk out to the kitchen and sit at the table. We eat and put sweatpants and t-shirts on. We get in the van and are driven to the football pitch, The van is being lowered and we look out the windows, the van stops and we get out.

We see Erik, Zach and Robert. "Hey guys!" They say and we smile. "Hi." We see make up artists getting ready and we are told to sit in the seats. Samuel goes straight into clothes and we get painted up. "Arm." The girl says to me and I raise my arm so that she can paint it, and then the other. She paints my legs from the knees down and I look at Lindsay. "I Look Like A Green Smurf." I say and she laughs. We sit back down to dry out and so that they can put make us look gruesome. We get into our dresses and take pictures of us. Zach walks in and smiles at us. "Hey girlies." He says and we smile. "Hey Zach." We say while they put the finishing touches to us. They guys knock the door and walk in. "Hey." They say and we swing around, they jump back a little. "Exorcists much?" Cameron asks and we laugh. "Ok guys, come on." The make up girls say and we get up. We sit on the chairs and Samuel walks over and takes a picture of us with Zach. Zach then takes one of us all clawing at Samuel with him winking. We smile and get back up.

They guys come over and Robert walks in and looks at us. "Now for your prom photos." He says and we follow him into a room which has a photographer and props ready. Emily goes first because she is by herself and gets the photo taken, she moves on and I walk over with Samuel. He puts his arm around my waist and we smile at the screen. We walk away and he lets go of me when we get to the seats. Damian takes out his phone and takes pictures of us, we take pictures altogether and when Cameron and Marissa get their picture taken, we walk out and Zach nods at us to come over to a screen. We look at it and see all the people waiting, low music playing and Zach tells us what to do. "So, you punch up through here." He says and points to an area of white, paper like material. "Use the ladder here to climb out, and crawl over to your position and perform." We nod and Robert calls the girls back into the make up room and puts paint into the secret pockets of our dress. We walk out to the guys, get our microphones on and Zach looks at Samcruel. "Time to go." He says and nods. "Good luck." We say and he smiles. I wink at him and he walks out. We see him run out and everyone squeals. He looks around and runs about. The crowd go quiet and he smiles.

Zach nods at us and I burst out through the ground, I climb up and crawl accross. I stand up and they look at me, Everyone climbs through and stands up in place. I look over at Samuel and he nods. I smile and look out at the crowd. Ok, here we go, this is what you always dreamt of. "Off With Your Head." I sung and they smile. "Dance- Dance- Dance, till your dead." I sing and the crowd smiles. We perform and grab Samuel he screams at the perfect time and we crawl over him. I take out the paint and he closes his eyes while I put it all over his face, Marissa draws on scars while Lindsay gives him bruises. We get off him and walk away and dance to the instrumental. "Off with your head. Dance- Dance- Dance till your dead..."


	26. Chapter 26

... As we end, we look up and smile. We sign some autographs and jump back down through the hole. We walk into our make up room and Samuel looks in my mirror while the make up artist starts getting stuff ready to take my makeup off. "You went easy on me. Thanks." We nod. "We could have done a lot worse." Lindsay says and he laughs. "Ok, i'm going to go get changed." We nod. "Ok." After we get all of it off, I walk with Lindsay to the guys room, we open the door at the worst moment we possibly could have; The guys are all in their boxers, I look at Samuel and then he looks up from the ground at me. We run out and shut the door. We look at each other and go straight to Robert Ulrich. "Uhm, can we go home?" Marissa asks and he nods. "You guys can go wait in the van." Lindsay nods. "Is it ok if we get a bus or something?" He nods. "Sure." We smile. "Thanks, we'll go straight home." He nods at us and we nod and grab our handbags before walking outside, it's colder than most nights. We get to the bus stop and hop on. We take a three seater and cram in.

"What the hell have we done?" Marissa says and I nod. "They are going to hate us." I say and Lindsay nods. "We just walked right in, they would knock- even if they knew no-one was getting changed, and we knew!" She says and I shake my head. "I stared at him and he seen me stare at him" They nod. "Yeah, I think they are all going to hate us right now." Marissa says and squints. I lean my head against the window and look out. "It is raining in LA?" I ask and they smile. "Someone fell in love tonight." I look at Marissa. "Sweetie, seeing those guys has made your head turn to mush." She laughs. "Everyone wants to be kissed in the rain." Lindsay says and I nod and we get off at our stop. We walk down the road and I stop, they keep walking. They turn around and look at me. "Come On!" Lindsay shouts and I shrug. "We performed to 500 people tonight and we performed my favourite mash up ever from glee. I'm going to hold onto this for a minute." They nod. "You'll get wet!" I laugh. "I don't even care." I say back and spin around in the rain while looking at the sky. They laugh and copy me. We hug and keep walking.

When we get back to the house we put on our PJs and get towels for our hair. When the rest of the contestants get in they nod at us. "Stuck in the rain?" Hannah asks and we shake our heads. "Just living a moment." Marissa says back and we watch Damian, Cameron and Samuel walk into the guys dorm alone and shut the door. "Shit." I say to them and they nod.

"So, how hot are they?" Emily asks while sitting beside me. I glare at her and we walk over to the guys dorm. I knock the door and Samuel opens it. "Oh, you knocked that time?" He asks and I nod. "Ok, we deserved that." Marissa says He opens the door wider and lets us in. I sit on Alex's bed with Marissa and Lindsay. We look at each other and then at the guys. "So..." Marissa says and I nod. "We're really sorry that we walked in on you." I say and Lindsay looks up. "REALLY sorry."

They nod. "Just knock next time." Damian says and we nod. "Totally." Lindsay says and the guys nod. "Good." Cameron says and walks out with Marissa and Damian. We stay where we are and Samuel sits up on his bed, texting. She looks at me and nods, she walks out and he looks up at me and nods for me to go over to him. "Samuel, I am soo sorry." He nods. "It's just- you were staring at me." I nod. "I was just-in shock at what I had done, and I was-" He nods. "Staring." He says and smiles. "Yeah." I say and he laughs.


	27. Chapter 27

He looks at my hair. "What the hell happened?" He says while slicking my wet hair back. I smile. "Had a moment out in the rain with Marissa and Lindsay." He nods. "Because you're cool like that." I nod. "Whatever. Dreads." I say and pull one in front of his eyes and get up. He pulls me back on the bed and I lie across it. We hear shouting so walk out and see them all arguing. "Where's Lindsay And Marissa?" I ask and MyKynleigh smiles. "They went away and hid in the bathroom." I walk towards her. "Why?" She shrugs. "That doesn't matter, why don't you answer the question?" I nod. "What question?" I ask and she smiles. "Who has the hottest body? Samuel, Damian or Cameron?" I look at the three boys who look at me with raised eyebrows. I shake my head and run off to the bathroom. I knock on the door and put my forehead against it. "It's me." I say with a sigh and they open it. They let me in and I close it behind me, I slide down the wall and they look up, tears down their faces and the remnaints of their mascara on their cheeks. "MyKynleigh got to you too?" I nod. "Yep." I say and put my head between my knees.

"Nicola!" "Lindsay!" "Marissa!" We look up after hearing the boys bang the door. "What?" I say back and lean against the door "Come out here!" I look at them and shake my head. "We're good here." Lindsay shouts back and Marissa shakes her head. "Let us in!" Cameron shouts and I shake my head. "Go hang out, leave us alone." Lindsay shouts back and they sigh. "Awk, let us in!" Damian shouts and I look over at the girls. Lindsay grabs a towel and wipes her face, she passes it to Marissa, who cleans her face and passes it to me, I rub my eyes and reach up and unlock the main door. I shuffle over and lean against the cupboards beside Marissa. They open the door and looksat us. They sit opposite us and look at us. "It's not that bad." Cameron says and we laugh to ourselves. "They are going to take the piss out of me for the rest of the competition." I say and they walk over to us. "Well, there isn't much we can do about that." Cameron says and he sits beside Marissa. Samuel sits beside me and looks at me. "Don't worry about them." I nod and looks at him. "If it had been the other way around, they would have asked you the same thing and it wouldn't bother you. We are genuinely embarrased and none of them can move on." I say and get up. "Come on, If I have to listen to them, so do you." I say and he nods.

We walk back out and MyKynleigh nods. "You chosen which one yet?" She asks and eats a crisp. "Just because you're jealous." Samuel says and sits down. "Come on! I am NOT Jealous that she seen you in practically nothing!" He nods. "If you weren't you would have shut up about it half an hour ago." She rolls her eyes and walks away. I turn around and mouth 'Thank You' To Samuel, he nods and sits back. "Well I am going to get an early night." I nod at Lindsay. "Me Too." I say with a yawn and Marissa nods. "Me Three." We get up and nod. "Night guys." We say while walking to our room. We dry our hair off and go to sleep.


	28. Chapter 28

I wake up and see Marissa sitting with Damian in the sitting room. "Hey guys." I say walking through to the kitchen. "Morning." They say back and I boil the kettle. "You guys want a cup?" They hold up their mugs and I nod. I sit beside Marissa and she leans her head on my shoulder. "So, which of us do you think was fittest?" He asks and I almost choke on my coffee.

I look at Marissa and she sits back up. "Well she stared at Samuel." She says and I hit her on the back. "You stared at Cameron! And HE HAS A GIRLFRIEND." I say and she nods. "What about Lindsay?" Damian asks and we both smile at him. His cheeks redden a little and he nods. Samuel walks in and walks by us. "Hey guys." He says and makes himself coffee. He sits up beside Damian and nods. "So, what are you guys talking about?" He asks and we nod. "Oh, y'know, the girls seeing us in our boxers yesterday." Damian says and Samuel nods. "Everything is normal then?" He says and laughs. "Of course." Marissa says with a smile. She puts her head in my lap and looks up at me. "I don't want to go." I nod. "You won't." I say and play with her silky smooth ginger hair. "Neither will you." Damian says and I smile. "I've got you to thank for that." I say while I get up and touch Samuel's shoulder as I walk out to the kitchen. I put my mug in the sink and Samuel walks in. "Morning toto." He says and I nod. "didn't we just do this? In there?" I say and point at the door. He nods. "Yeah." He says and lifts out a bowl. "you want some breakfast?" I shrug. "I'm good with an apple." I say and he shakes his head. "You are having breakfast." I shake my head. "I'm having an apple." I say and lift one from the bowl. He takes it off me and starts making breakfast. I lift another from the bowl and he takes it. "Stop That!" He shakes his head. "You are eating breakfast like the rest of us." He says back. I go to lift another one and he lifts the bowl away. "You are stubborn." I say and he nods. "Yep." He says while putting bread in the toaster.

I sit on a chair while he makes breakfast around me. Alex comes in and helps him. Samuel sets a plate of sausages, beans and mushrooms infront of me and he sets a plate of toast down too. He puts out the other plates and sits in front of me. "Thanks." I say and he nods. Everyone walks in and we start eating. When we are finished I sit back in my seat. "That was yummy guys." Lindsay says to Samuel and Alex. They nod and I get up to do the dishes. I lift the plates and scrape the left overs into the bin. Samuel walks over and lifts up a drying cloth. "No you don't." I say while turning on the tap and pouring washing up liquid in the sink. I turn to him and take it off him. "I'm helping you do the dishes." He says and takes the drying cloth off me. I turn around to him and pull it off him. "Give me it!" He says and takes it back off me. I stick my hand in the sink and cover my hads in suds. I cover his face and take it back off him. He nods. "You won this time." He says with a smile and walks out to clean his face while I do the dishes.

I sit up beside Marissa on my bed and take out my ipod. Samuel sits in the corner, tuning his guitar. "You wrote another song?" I ask with a wink and he laughs. "No, just need to get this back into shape." He says and I nod. I put in my headphones but sit looking round me and don't play the music. I sit in a day dream and go to lift my ipod- but it's not on the side of the sofa bed beside me. I look up- Samuel. "How did you get that?" I ask and take the headphones from my ears. He looks up at me and raises an eyebrow. "I asked you could I borrow it a minute ago and you nodded." I nod. "I need to sleep." I say and he laughs. He sits and listens to it and I hear the back door open. We turn around and see Cameron and Damian walking in with three bags full of magazines. We all get up and walk over to them.

"So, we wanted to get some reading material, but then, we didn't really know what magazines you guys would read, so we kind of, bought one of everything." Damian says and laughs at their idiosy. "We should have asked you before we left." Cameron says and they spread all the magazines out. I walk over and look at the magazines- they got KERRANG! ? How is that even possible? I swipe it off the floor and jump up and down. "How did you find this?" I ask them and Cameron nods. "There only was one." I hug him. "Does it mean something?" Damian asks and I nod. "Yeah, it got me into Rock music." They nod and Matheus walks over to me, he stands up on a chair and slowly pries it out of my hands. "I think we will put this one in the 'never let nicola near again pile..." He says while walking away. I run after him. "Ohh no you don't!" I shout and he laughs while throwing it to Damian. I chase him until he throws it to Cameron, he looks at me with an evil smile and runs. I chase him and he passes it to Samuel. I look at him and he jerks to move but then goes in the other direction. I race after him and he can't stop laughing.

I stop and look around at all the laughing contestants. I turn back around and Samuel is gone. I run into the guys bedroom and run around to his bed. He is lying beside it. I grab him and he pulls me down beside him. He opens it and starts reading it. "Hello?" I say and he nods and holds it up high between us so that we can both read it. I nod and he turns the page. We hear a click and look over to see Cameron. "And send to twitter." He says with a smile and we shrug. We read through it and get to a section about Black Veil Brides. My eyes light up and it is all about The Morticians Daughter. "Read that!" II say and he starts reading. "Where are you going?" I shrug. "I'll read the rest later." I say with a smile and walk out to see what magazines are left. I lift a motorcycle one and start flicking through it; Suzuki's, Yamaha's, Ducati's. Then I see it; Sturgis. The massive festival that takes place in South Dakota, every year. I smile while I flick through it; bands playing, the fighting ring, Hell's Angels. I smile and keep flicking through it. Samuel walks in and passes me over the magazine. "Here." I smile. "Thanks." I say and he nods and walks out. "I'm going to go play with my guitar." He says and we nod. "That's what he said." Alex says and Emily laughs. Samuel looks back around rolls his eyes in embarrassment, before walking into the boys dorm.


	29. Chapter 29

I open KERRANG! and read through it. Sadly, the part on 'The Morticians Daughter' is the only thing in it that is even remotely interesting. We get changed and I put my hair up in my black beanie, which Cameron makes fun of. I go up to his ear and whisper; "Nerdy Glasses?" He looks at me in shock. "Did you just go there!" He asks and I hold out my hand. "Truce?" He nods. "Sure, truce." He shakes it and we walk out to the stage snd see Robert with Zach. "Hello Contestants." Robert says with a smile. "Hi." We say back.

Marissa takes my hand and I half smile. "First of all, Congratulations Samuel, for winning this weeks homework assignment, you may go back into the house, you will not be doing a last chance performance for Ryan tonight." He smiles. "Thank you." He says with his eyebrows raised. I wink at him and turn back around.

"Nicola. Marissa. Lindsay." Zach says and we look at each other. "You will be coming back next week and will not have to perform for Ryan tonight." We smile and thank him before walking through the main door. We walk down the hall a little and then look at each other, we smile and sprint to the living area. Samuel gets up and hugs us. "Congrats." He says in turn and we smile. "You too." I say and he scrunches his mouth to the side.

Cameron, Emily and Hannah walk in and we hug them too. "Another week." Cameron says and Samuel high fives him. "Another week bro." He says back and I hug him. I walk over to Hannah and Emily. I hug Hannah and Emily gives me an accepting nod. I hold out my arms and she smiles a little and hugs me. "Another week to bitch." She says and I nod. "Of course." I say with a wink. I lie up on the bed with Lindsay and Marissa. Cameron and Samuel sit on two chairs and wait. After 10 minutes we hear footsteps and turn around; Damian.

Lindsay jumps off her seat and we all walk over to hug him. "Thank God." He says before hugging Marissa. "I couldn't face Ryan two weeks in a row." He says while hugging Samuel. He walks over to me and I nod. "I didn't doubt you for a second brother." He nods. "Good to know sis." He hugs me and walks over to Hannah and Emily. We all sit together and realise that MyKynleigh, Alex and Matheus are all singing for their places. "I don't know how you guys did this." I say and get up and walk to the kitchen. I get a glass of water and look at the table; another spare seat tomorrow. "You don't like the waiting part, huh?" I turn around and see Marissa and shake my head. "No." She nods. "Imagine how we felt last week." I smile and she boils the kettle for coffee. "Want one?" I shake my head and she smiles. "So, which is worse? Performing for Ryan Murphy, or waiting on someone to be judged by Ryan Murphy?" I nod. "Being judged." I say and she laughs to herself. "I've got that to look forward to." I smile and walk back in. Damian is sitting in the corner with Samuel and Cameron. Lindsay is reading a magazine and Hannah is watching TV with Emily. I turn around and walk out, I sit out at the fire exit and a shiver runs down my spine.

MyKynleigh; Nice, but too much of a gossip.

Alex: Too much drama, but an amazing singer.

Matheus: Funny, But never really speaks to me.

I rub my arm and look at the skyline. "Room for one more?" I look up at the slightly opened door and at the tall guy with blonde hair and nerdy glasses staring back at me. "Sure." I say and move from the door so he can sit down. "What's up?" I ask and he shrugs. "Just waiting." I nod. "Yeah." I say and he looks up at the sky. "You miss her?" I ask and he looks at me. "Yeah." I smile. "You really love her." I say with a smile and he nods. "Almost two years ago, I told her I loved her." I smile and he nods while looking at the sky. "I asked her to be mine, she said yes." He smiles but it quickly turns to a frown. "What's wrong?" He shrugs and looks me in the eye. "She didn't seem to happy about me getting it to final 12." I nod. "She probably just didn't want you to leave." He smiles. "What about you? Ever been in love?" I think back to Niall. "I think I was." I say and he nods. "So you're not sure? You will." I smile. "She's lucky Cameron." I say and he smiles. The door opens and Emily looks at us. "They'll be back any minute." We nod and get up. "You are freezing." Cameron says to me while helping me up. "I'm ok." I say as we walk into the house. We walk into the living area and I sit with Lindsay. They walk in and hug us immediately. and sit down. We sit in silence and then there are footsteps. I look up and the three of them have tear-stained cheeks. I bite my lip and Robert opens the door.

"Well guys, the list is up." Robert says before walking out. We hug them all and have a group hug. They walk out and we watch them. I turn around and see Samuel. I wrap my arms around his waist and he puts his hand on my hair. We hear two people jumping- and silence. We look at each other and tears escape.


	30. Chapter 30

We look around and I let go of Samuel. We look up at the screen. "Not Called Back: MyKynleigh." It says and I put a hand to my mouth. We walk out and hug her. We go over to the others and hug them. "Thank god." Matheus whispers and I smile at him. "Can we just, go out for a drink?" MyKynleigh asks while rubbing her eyes. "I'm sure we could do that." Marissa says and we fix our make up. I get out my ipod and tweet.

"It's times like this when you realise we are all the same."

I say and MyKynleigh walks in and hugs us all. The guys walk in and we get ready to go. We walk out and get to a bar. I sit up on the stool and call over a bar tender. "11 Shots." I say and he nods. "What of?" I look at the 10 others. "Tequila." I say with a smile and he pours them. "To You." I say and she smiles. We down them in one and Samuel looks as if he has just drank a shot of bleach. "Wow." I smile and he looks instantly buzzed.

After two more drinks each (Actual drinks) another two hours on the dancefloor and an emotional- drink fuelled hug in the house, we go to sleep.

I wake up in my room, in my own bed (Thank god) and unlike last time; No hangover. (Finally this irish blood of mine is soaking up alcohol like it used to) I walk in to the living area and see Samuel lying down with a flannel covering his face. I lift it off him and he squints in pain. "Turn off the light." He says and looks at me. "Morning." I say with a smile and he shrugs. "You're soo funny." He says and grabs the flannel off me. "What? Sore head?" He nods. "You don't?" I nod. "We only had three drinks." I say and he nods slowly. "The first of which was a shot of tequila." I laugh. "You weren't forced." I say and he laughs. "You're blood finally doing it's job then?" Cameron says while walking in. I nod. "You sound unusually cheerful." I smile and Samuel lies back down and puts the flannel on his face.

I leave the two of them to basically die, and go into the kitchen. I open the fridge and the sight of food makes me instantly sick. "Maybe your not 100% yet kiddo." I say to myself and tap my stomach. I walk in and get dressed for MyKynleigh's 'Keep Holding On' I walk back in and see them. "The choir room is in lock down." Matheus says and points to the locked door. We go on stage and stand behind MyKynleigh. We start to doing the backing, and she sings to the camera. Tears dribble down her cheeks and we all try not to cry. Robert walks on and half smiles at us and hugs MyKynleigh. "Guys, from tonight on, you will be doing a reaction filming while you are watching it. So you will all be sitting in a room together watching it and we record your reactions and you will be asked questions." We nod and go out and eat.

We get out of the van and walk into an Oxygen building. We take our seats and are joined by an interviewer. She introduces herself to the camera and we introduce ourselves. The episode starts and we smile. As we watch it they catch all our emotions, laughing, smiling, even the tears. "What are these about?" She asks, pointing to Marissa's bracelet. "Their friendship bracelets." She says and the other 5 of us hold our arms up. Marissa gets up and connects hers to Cameron, Damian gets up, then Lindsay, then Samuel, then me. We stand with our hands together and the Camera zooms in on them. "That is soo cute!" She says and we unlink and take our seats. "Nicola, we got to see a sweet conversation." She says and I turn around to them. "Did you guys know they had a camera out there?" They shake their heads and she holds her ear piece. "It was only put up two days ago." We nod and she looks at me. "So you don't know if you have ever been in love?" She asks and I shrug my shoulders. "I don't know, I mean, I think I loved someone once, but I don't know because, well we broke up before I could really figure it out." I say with a nod and she gives me a frown. "But hey, I'm here with these guys and we're gonna do our thing and the past doesn't have to matter." I say and they smile. "Now, lets see the most eagerly awaited TV moment this week!" She says and we all glue our eyes on the screen to watch the video, which is amazing. I smile and nod at Samuel. "Wow." She says and we smile. "What was it like, performing to 500 people?" We smile. "It was amazing! We felt their energy and we were terrified, but Samuel had to run on by himself, so I think he was more worried than we were." Matheus says and Samuel laughs. "They all had moral support, getting to climb out together, I had to run on by myself and for a minute, it felt like one of those dreams, you know; the ones where you are at high school naked and everyone is laughing at you? It was like that, but they weren't laughing and I wasn't naked." He says and smiles.

"Moving on from that image, there was a little bit of tension, or should I say, a little bit more tension in the house this week." We nod and I look at Lindsay and Marissa. "Well, you guys don't get the entire story." Lindsay says and Marissa nods. "Yeah, I mean, We didn't do anything intentionally. We were REALLY absent minded." she says and she still looks at us, clueless. "I don't know how to put this." I say and they all look at me. I look around at the guys and they half smirk. "So, we went to see the guys, and we didn't knock the door." I start and wince, the guys smile and I hit Sam on the arm. "We kind of walked in on them in their boxers." They smile and we burst out laughing. "So, yeah, uhm, they teased us about it." Marissa says and the guys look at the camera. "And we were serously peed off." Cameron says and she nods. "Why?" Damian looks up. "When three guys walk in on you in nearly nothing, and they are your best friends, you tell us that you're not peed off!" He says and we nod. "But you forgive us, right?" Lindsay says turning round to them. "Course." Samuel says and hugs me.

"You guys are soo touchy feely" She says to us all and they shake their heads. "No, those two are soo touchy feely." Emily says and we laugh. "What is going on with you two?" She asks and we shrug. "We're friends." I say and Samuel nods. "And i'm a hugger." I laugh and when the episode finishes, we all turn around to her and she interviews MyKynleigh. I take a sip of water and she turns around.

"Tell us one thing that no-one else knows about you." We look at each other and nod.

Damian: "I did a fhleadh when I was 12 Years old and came 38th out of 50."

Alex: "I have never been kissed."

Lindsay: "My brother plays for a football team."

Emily: "I'm worried that this experience is going by too fast."

Cameron: "I'm not sure if I want to go back to Texas."

Hannah: "My nose is pierced, and none of these guys even knew."

Marissa: "I have actually started listening to some rock music."

Matheus: "I don't want to lose contact with anyone from the show."

Samuel: "I worry about other people, way more than I should."

Nicola: "I usually follow my head instead of my heart."

MyKynleigh: "I'm sad to leave, but happy I get to see Bryce again."

We smile and look at the camera. "Watch The Glee Project, 9/8c on Oxygen every sunday." We look at each other and smile. "LIVE OUT LOUD!" We shout and it is shut off. "Well done guys." We smile and get back in the van to go home.

MyKynleigh walks around the house one final time and hugs us all. She smiles and walks out. We watch her go and get a text from Bryce:

'Good Luck Guys. On My Way To Lift MyKynleigh. See You Someday Soon. x ."

We smile and walk into the choir room and look at the chalk board.


	31. Chapter 31

**A/N: A VERY Short Chapter…**

"Vulnerability." Emily says.

"Please Don't Leave Me. By Pink." Cameron says.

"Be prepared to show us who you really are." I read out and look at them all. "Great." I say and lift a song sheet.

We sit down and look over the song. We practive and a message comes on the screen. "Meeting with Erik tomorrow. 2pm." I nod. "They are gonna want to know our pasts." Matheus says and walks out. I practice with Cameron and get ready for bed.

I make toast and sit with a magazine. "Hey." I look up at Samuel. "Hey pink shorts." I say while eating my toast. "What's up?" He asks and I shrug. "Nothing much, what about you?" I ask and he takes a piece of toast from my plate and I nod. He lifts a magazine and sits reading. I look over at him every so often and smile. "So, you ready to meet Erik tomorrow?" He asks after a while and I shrug. "Not really." He nods and I look at his dreads. "What about you?" I ask and he shrugs. "It'll be pretty depressing." I nod. "You'll be ok." I say and get up. "Easy for you to say." He says and turns around.

I half smile and nod. "I'm going to bed." He nods. "Night." I nod. "Night Sam."


	32. Chapter 32

**A/N: Yet Another Short Chapter, Just Be Prepared For What Is To Come Guys…**

I wake up and see Lindsay sitting on the edge of her bed, with a tissue pushed against her eyes. I get out of bed and sit beside her. "What's wrong?" I ask and she leans on me. "I'm just thinking about this meeting with Erik." I nod and hug her. "It'll be ok Linds."I say and rub her hair. She lets go of me and rubs her eyes. "It's ok." I say and she half smiles.

I get up and put on my skinny jeans, a black and white striped t-shirt with a long grey cardigan. I put on my black converse and put on Sam's black and brown bracelet with a singe green bead. I smile at it and put on my friendship bracelet too.

I move my hair so that it sits loose and curly. I walk in to the living area and see Sam wearing my bracelet along with his usual brown skinny jeans and his green t-shirt. "Morning." I say and he smiles. "Morning." He says and I smile. "Hows it going over there?" I ask while signalling at the guys dorm. "Fine, what about in there?" I look over and nod. "I woke up to see Lindsay crying on her bed. "This is not going to be a good day."

He puts his arm around me and looks down. "You ok? We haven't talked properly in a while." I nod. "I can practically guarantee you that I will be a mess by the end of today." He nods. "We all have a past." I nod and look at him. "Mine is just messed up." He hugs me and we eat breakfast


	33. Chapter 33

We walk into the living area and see Erik. Samuel sits on the back ledge with Matheus, Damian and Cameron. I sit with Lindsay in front of the boys and Marissa sits at the other side of Lindsay. "Hey guys." He says and half smiles. "For the 'born this way' performance on glee, they had to have words and sayings on their t-shirts which were connected to the characters and their biggest vulnerabilities. We are going to do it slightly different." We look at each other and back at him. "So, for this weeks video shoot, you will all be wearing a sign which has a word or phrase, outlining your biggest vulnerability." He looks at all of us and I think over it all in my head; You're going to tell them about your mum and dad. Calm down, don't cry, just breathe, it's ok.

"Matheus?" He looks up and nods "small, I mean, it's pretty obvious but it wasn't always fun; growing up and never changing in height."

"Hannah?" She nods. "Fat, it's just a mean word." Erik nods and looks at Alex.

"Alex?" He half smiles. "My biggest vulnerability, is that I am gay. I mean- I only came out to my mom last year and no-one at my school knows, so i'm taking a pretty big risk here."

"Lindsay." He says and I see tears sitting on the edge of her eye lids. "Uhm," She starts and we look at her. "I guess, my word would, be fake." She says and I rub her shoulder. "Why fake, Lindsay?" Erik asks him and she shrugs. "I've always had to try and be perfect, I was adopted, and I love my adopted parents but it's not the same. My ex boyfriend, abused me." I look at her in horror and look straight at Marissa and she shakes her head at me, as if to say; I didn't know either. "He took advantage of me, beat me up." She continues and I feel tears in my eyes, they drip down hers and my own cheeks and Marissa tries to wipe her own away, I don't even turn around to the boys, but I hear sniffles coming from at least one of them. "I try and slap a happy smile on my face everyday and I push myself to do things to the best of my ability because I never feel like i'm good enough." She finishes and rests her head on my shoulder.

"You are good enough Lindsay, and you didn't deserve to be treated that way." Erik says and she half smiles and rubs away the tears from her cheeks. I rub my eyes and she sits back up.

"Cameron?" He says and I turn around to look at the boys. "Ehm, Misunderstood." He says with a half smile. "Where I'm from, I don't exactly dress like anyone else and I'm not as athletic and people just, don't get me." He says and shrugs it off.

"Marissa?" She looks up. "I'd say, flawed, I have flaws and things that bug people, so I usually push everyone away." She says and we nod.

"Damian?" He nods while looking at the ground before pulling his head up. "I'd say numb, y'know I find it hard to fall in love, I never seem to care about someone for long enough to actually fall in love, I usually give up because, I feel nothing." Erik nods and looks at the three of us.

"Nicola?" He asks and I pull my knees to my chest and look up while fidgeting with the sleeves of my cardigan. "My word, would be unwanted or broken." I say and feel eyes staring from different directions. "Why?" I nod and keep my eyes on the floor. "My, uhm, my mum was 16 when she was pregnant with me. He, didn't want to know." I say and nod. "He, being your dad?" I shrug. "My biological one? yeah. Him." I say while looking up at Erik. "He was like the jock, he didn't want a kid with a nobody girl to effect his cred." I say and look up with a tear forming in my eye. "He asked her to go to England, and have an abortion." I say with an angry smile on my face and hear gasps. "But she didn't." I add in and the tear falls down my cheek. "She had me, and raised me and when I was 8, he wanted to know me." I say and shake my head. "You ok?" Erik asks and I nod and look up. "He became this amazing dad overnight. He bought me stuff, brought me places and told me that he wanted me to live with him." I say with a smile. "I Believed him, so, even though my mum told me not to, I packed my bags and got ready to go and live with him. I went to sleep that night and thought of the amazing new life I was going to have with my dad." I say and look at the roof. "I woke up the next morning and went downstairs and his car was gone. I shouted at my mum and she gave me a note. I opened it. It only had two words on the page." I say and look back at Erik. "I Lied." I say while nodding my head. "I haven't been the same kid since." He nods and seems speechless for a moment.

"Your mom loves you. Your dad doesn't deserve you. He isn't worth it. He didn't change you Nicola, he made you the amazing person you are, with your crazy taste in music." I smile and nod. I feel a hand on my shoulder and turn round to look at Sam. He pulls me slightly closer before dropping his hand, so that I am resting my back against his knees.

"Samuel?" Erik asks and I turn to face him, like the others. He clears his throat and starts playing with the bracelets he is wearing. "Rejected." He says without moving his eyes from the bracelets. "I had a girl for a lil while. We talked about getting married, and she dumped me." He says while looking up at Erik, and keeping his gaze away from me. "I don't understand how you can go from being so close to someone and caring about them so much, to someday, not caring at all." He says and I rub his knee. "I jus-just want to have a chance to prove myself. I want to be able to blow someone's mind, if you know what I mean." He says and rubs his eyes which have gone red and puffy. I look up at him and he looks at me and looks away. I put my other hand on the back of his neck to meet his own and we hold hands. "You will get the chance Samuel."

Erik says before moving on to Emily, who almost immediately breaks down in tears. "It's ok, take your time." She nods and puts her hands to her face before pulling her hair back and looking up at him. "I was used. Sexually." She starts off and we look at her. "Music producers and people who said they would help me out, it just makes me feel disgusting and useless." He shakes his head. "You're not pathetic or useless. Emily." He says and when she calms down he looks at us all and nods. "We have made some really good progress today guys. I want you all to take what has been said into consideration for this weeks video shoot." He says and walks out. We say goodbye as he leaves and we all hug and end up being blubbering messes, even Samuel and Cameron shed tears.

"Ok guys, back to the competition, I don't like any of you guys." Hannah says in an attempt to lighten the mood. They all start walking out but I just sit back up on the bed and Lindsay lies beside me. "I can't believe how much we didn't know about each other." She says and I nod. "But the past doesn't change who we are." Samuel says and half smiles and I get up and hug him. "You'll start me again." He says and I half smile. "Hey, your allowed to cry, remember?" He smiles and the rest of them start walking out and he hugs me again. He smiles and goes to walk out with me and I shrug. "I'm going to stay here for a while." He nods and I smile. I sit down and face away from the camera's and bury my head in my cardigan and just sit in silence- which is the loudest thing that you could ever hear.


	34. Chapter 34

4 Hours Later.

I hear footsteps and stay where I am. The bed moves and I turn around to see Samuel. "Hi." I say and he nods. "We were getting worried about you." I half smile and shrug. "I'm fine." He nods and moves closer to me on the bed. "You haven't moved in four hours." I nod. "What's going on in your head?" He asks and I shrug. "I said it out loud." He looks at me nods. "You haven't cried?" He asks me again and I shrug. "Nope." He nods and I look at him in the eye. "Not in 10 years." He nods and doesn't say anything. He just takes me by the waist and pulls me towards him. I put my face in the ark of his neck and he wraps his arms around me. "You can now." He whispers and I break down.

"I'm a mistake Samuel." I say with tears down my face and shakes his head. "You. Are. NOT. A. Mistake." He says and looks at me. I smile and cry into his shoulder. "Sometimes, people don't realise how lucky they are to have a kid." He says and he wipes away my tears with the bottom of my cardigan. "How are they?" I ask pointing to the door. "Tears, alot." I nod and he snuggles me into him. "Be comfy,." He says and I half smile. "I'm not letting you go until you are ok." I smile and look up at him. "You're amazing, you know that?" He laughs and looks at me and I smile.

1 Hour Later.

"Yo sis- you ok?" Damian asks and we look over at him. "Oh, sorry." He says with a smile and walks back out. I laugh and so does Samuel. "C'mon." I say and he nods. "You sure?" I nod. "Yeah." I say and he pulls me up. "What about you? You ok?" I ask him and he nods. "Yeah, I touched a nerve, but i'm fine." I hug his waist and he puts his arm around me. We walk back in and see the room full of teary-eyed puffy faced contestants. "Hey." I say and they half smile. "Hi." They say back sniffling.

"Your Past Does NOT Make You A Bad Person. It Makes You Who You Are." I tweet and we start practicing for this weeks homework assignment, and with how upset everyone is, it's not that hard to show emotion. After we are finished, I walk into boys dorm and sit up with Samuel on his bed while he reads his bible. I put in my headphones and flick through photos. A tear rolls down his cheek and I rub it away. He smiles and holds my hand. Sometimes silence is the loudest sound, sometimes it's all you need.


	35. Chapter 35

We get up and get ready for the homework assignment. I put on a pink (I know- PINK.) T-shirt and my skinny jeans along with my zombie converse. (_It's me- did you really think I would be 'normal'_?) We walk into the choir room and wait on our guest. I sit with Lindsay and we get really excited. We hear a door open and all look at each other. They walk in and Alex basically gets up and we cheer- Dot Marie Jones. _**DOT MARIE FRICKEN JONES!**_ We cheer and she smiles at us. "Hey kids." We all look like 'The Joker' from batman. "Nice to meet you." she says and we all nod, dumbfounded. "Guys?" Robert says, trying to snap us out of it. They both laugh and Dot nods. "Why don't you just do the performance?" She says while laughing. We walk over to the performance area and sing. We look at her and she seems upset.

We take our seats again and she looks at us. "That was amazing." We nod. "Thanks." We say and she gives out various comments. "I could really feel the emotion." She says to me and I smile. "Thank you." I say back and she looks at Damian. "Wow. You broke my heart a little." His eyes widen and he smiles. "That's why I have chosen you to be the winner of this weeks assignment." He jumps in his seat a little and smiles. "Thank you soo much." He says and she smiles. "This weeks music video is going to be- 'Mad Word' By Tears For Fears." We nod and so does she. "Damian, I look forward to seeing you tomorrow." He nods and she waves goodbye and Robert looks at us as she leaves. "This weeks Music Video will be filmed at the Universal citywalk." We nod and Samuel stares in shock. "That is like the shopping mall equivalent of the walk of fame! thousands go through there everyday!" Samuel says and I instantly feel sick. "Enjoy." Robert says and walks away.

I walk outside and slump down on the ground. The cold wind whistles and I bury my head in my legs. What happened to no more self pity? I shake my head and look at the ground. I see Skip and he waves as he walks by and into a Starbucks. I open the door and look at Samuel. "You want to go get some coffee?" I ask him and he nods. "Sure." He says with a smile. "Will you grab my hoodie? It's in my room." He nods and I wait outside. He walks out and passes me a brown hoodie. "This isn't mine." He nods. "It's mine." He says with a smile and I put it on. I wrap myself up in it and we walk down to Starbucks. "How you feeling today?" He asks and I shrug. "Horrible." He nods and pulls me closer to him with his arm wrapped around me. "That makes two of us." I hug him and he half smiles. We walk in and I see Skip. "Hey." I say and Samuel looks in the same direction as me to see who i'm talking to. "Skip!" Sam says and we walk over to him. "Irish. Dreads." We smile and sit down. I lie up on a sofa while Sam takes the seat next to Skip. "What's up kids?" We shrug. "It's just getting heavy in there." I say while Samuel orders coffee for us.

"That sucks." We nod and Our coffees come. "Hows it goin' ?" Sam asks and he nods. "Good- kind of hard being in a band with another person when the other person is on tv & you hardly get to seem them." I half smile and drink my coffee. I get a text and smile.

From:

Everything is all set up sweetie, just need to get you on our turf and show the Americanos what we are made of ;) Love You. Xo

Samuel looks over at me and smiles. "You seem happier." I nod and reply.

To Mum:

Having a heavy week, we had to talk about our pasts. Alot of tears, from everyone. Got out of the house for half an hour with Samuel to have coffee with his friend Skip. Love You too. Xo

"It's just mum." He nods and I sit with my feet up against my chest and play with my phone will they talk band-stuff. I look through a conversation I once had with Daniel; from when we were together. I delete it and hear a click. I look over at Samuel who has a camera pointed at me. I smile and Skip laughs.

I take out my ipod and take a picture of them both. They smile and I tweet it;

Just Like Brothers. SamuelLarsen & SkipArnold Talking Band Stuff.

I smile And a blue tweet appears on my timeline.

"Toto texting Kansas. With my hoodie."

I smile and see a tweet from Skip.

"You know someone cares about someone, if their smile makes them smile."

I look at the picture; Me smiling into the text message and Samuel smiling at me.

I smile and finish up my coffee. I sit up and they keep talking band stuff. "We need to practice." Samuel says while finishing his coffee and we get up. "Enjoy." Skip says and pulls Samuel into a hug. I put my phone in my pocket and Skip hygs me. "Later Irish." I nod and we walk out.

We look up at the fire escape and he sighs. "You ok?" I ask and he nods. "I don't like this feeling." I look at him. "Heart broken." He says and sniffles. I hug him and look up at the fire escape. "It's just a couple more days." I say and he nods. "Then i'll be gone." He says and I look at him. "You are not going anywhere! Do you hear me Samuel Larsen? You are not going anywhere." I say and he hugs me.


	36. Chapter 36

"Now come on, we need to practice." I say and drag him by the hand up the top of the fire escape. He laughs and we walk back in. "Hey guys!" Samuel says and we start practicing. After a while, when they all leave the room, I stay behind and get out my ipod. I close my eyes and listen to 'You' By The Pretty Reckless.

I open them 5 minutes later to see Samuel and Marissa walking towards me. "Hey." I say and they sit at either side of me. "What's up?" I ask and they look at me. Marissa uses her sleeve to wipe my face. "You've been crying." Samuel says matter-of-factly. "I'm ok." I say and get up to walk out but they pull me back down.

"Don't lie to us." Marissa says. "I'm ok, I promise." They look at me and shake their heads. "Stop worrying." Samuel says and I laugh. "I'm not." I say and Marissa nods. "Stop worrying about your Dad." Marissa says and I shrug. "When we go to Ireland, he's going to be there." I say and a tear rolls down my cheek. "I won't let him near you." Samuel says and I laugh. "He'll be there, and I don't want to be anywhere near him." I say and think of Ciara.

Marissa hugs me and Samuel puts his hand on my arm. I look back at the sheet and the three of us practice. I smile and we get up. "I don't know about you two, but I am starving!" Samuel says and we nod. "Magic charms?" Samuel says and Marissa nods. "Brinner." She says with a smile and high fives Samuel. "Nice Scrubs reference." Samuel says to her and she smiles. We eat and see Damian holding on to Lindsay as she cries. We go to walk over to them but Damian shakes his head. "I got her." He whispers to us and we smile and walk back out.

We walk into the guys dorm and sit down on Samuel's bed. He steals my ipod and starts taking pictures and posting them on twitter. I laugh at him and he pulls the hood up on me. I laugh and he grabs my hand. He takes a picture of our hands that have each others bracelets on.

THE NEXT DAY

I wake up and get changed into clothes for practicing straight away. I walk in and we practice for a few hours and people keep breaking down. Everyone except Marissa, she never seems to. Strange. Damian starts getting nervous for his one on one with Dot and when he goes into the Choir room, we sit and read magazines, comfort best friends and I reserch Universal Citywalk. "Well. I'm scared." I say and they laugh. I grab my laptop and create a tumblr.

_Just To Rant, Get Things Off My Chest, And To Relieve Stress..._

I put as the title and start writing a post.

_And so here we are. The final 10. And this is the most emotional week ever. Mending hearts are breaking and broken hearts are mending. I love every single person in here, and who has been here. I realise who I care about, who I always have and who I always will, thank you The Glee Project, you've should me how to trust and how to love. Do you know what it's like to hate yourself everyday of your life because you weren't meant to be here? Do you know how it feels to have to be a fake everyday because you know your 'friends' won't like you if you tell them the truth? Do you know what it's like to have your best friend go into Rehab? I do. It's not fun, driving your friend to rehab on the way to the airport._

_Song To Listen To: 'You' By The Pretty Reckless._

I send it and we practice again.

Damian walks out with a smile on his face. "You ok McGinty?" Emily asks and he nods. "That was so much fun." We smile and he jumps up and down.


	37. Chapter 37

We get dressed and get in the van and go into vocals with Nikki.

"Bright and early for the daily races. Going nowhere. Going nowhere." I sing and she nods. "I'm feeling more anger than vulnerability Nicola. What are you thinking about?" She asks and I look at her. "My dad. He didn't want me. He came back into my life when I was eight and then left again. He asked my mum to get an abortion." I say and look at the microphone. "Ohh Nicola." She says to me and goes to get out of the booth. "I'm ok." I say and put my hand up. She nods and sits back down. "You ready?" I nod and hold the bottom of the microphone.

I sing it again and she smiles. "That was a lot better." She says and I smile. I get out of the booth and go through the fire escape. I stand outside and lean against the wall. I bow my head and take out my phone.

TO: Mrs O'Driscoll

I'm ready to take you up on your offer. Nicola

I send it and walk back in to them. "You ok? We were wondering where you got to." Cameron says to me and Samuel looks up. "Yeah, I'm fine." I say with a smile and sit beside Lindsay. I get a text and look at my phone.

FROM: Mrs O'Driscoll

No problem Nicola. Ring me when you're back.

I nod at it and Alex breaks down when he walks in. Emily hugs him and brings him over to Matheus and Hannah. Lindsay leans on my shoulder until she is called in and I sit up on my chair. Samuel keeps reading over his lines and I play with my ipod. She walks back out and looks at me. She sits on my knee and I hug her. "She is soo two-faced." whispers and I look at her. "One week she is saying that I am screeching and the next she wants to hug me?" I nod. "Yep. Showbiz babe." I say and she laughs. She moulds herself into me and I look at Samuel when he is called to go in. He smirks at me and walks in as Damian walks out. He sits beside me and sits back in the chair. "She ok?" He whispers and I nod. "Yeah." I say and he touches her hair. He smiles at me and I wink at him. He laughs a little and she reaches out for his hand. He grabs her hand and I take a picture of their hands. I post it on twitter and Hannah walks over to us. "We're going to take Alex back to the house, he's pretty torn up." I nod. "Take Cameron and Marissa, they're exhausted." Lindsay muffles into my neck. "I think you should go to Lindsay." I say and she looks at Damian. "We'll wait on Samuel." Damian says and she nods.

They take him out to the van and Lindsay falls asleep. "How'd it go?" He nods. "Yeah, arright." I smile and look at Lindsay sleeping. "Not exactly sixth form at college, is it?" I ask him and he laugh. "Just a lil' different." He says and Lindsay moves. "I don't know, if I want to take them home." I say to Damian and he smiles. "Think about it, you think they're gonna take any shit?" He asks and I laugh. "No, but I don't want them to take any." He nods.

"Go to my school, your school, Blarney stone..." He says and I laugh. "It'll be fun. He says and Lindsay moves again. "I'm going to take her outside, wake her up." He nods. "Ok." She opens her eyes and I smile. "Come on Lindsay." I say and she gets up. I put my arm around her and we walk outside. "Ugh. I am so sick of her." She whispers and I nod. "She just wants to be in control." I say back and she walks around in circles.

"Just, play along and you'll seem like the perfect contestant." I say with a wink and she nods. We walk back in and see the boys smiling at each other and I hold her back. "I think they're gonna make out!" I whisper shout and they laugh. "C'mon." Damian says and we walk out. We get into a taxi and are driven back to the house. We walk in and see Marissa sitting by herself in the choir room.

We walk on by and see Cameron. "What's wrong with her?" Lindsay asks and he scratches the back of his head. "I don't know, she asked to be alone." I nod and look in at her. Samuel and Damian look at us and I look at Lindsay. "Come on." I say and we walk in. "You guys stay here." Lindsay says and they stand outside the door.

"What's wrong?" I ask and she shrugs. "Nothing, i'm fine." I look at Lindsay and she nods. "Ok." Lindsay says and we wrap our arms around her. "You don't have to tell us." I say and she just bows her head in shame. I look up and see Samuel and Cameron. I shake my head. They nod and walk out. I look at Lindsay and she half smiles. I hear Marissa's stomach growl and put a smile on my face. "Someone's hungry." I say and she half laughs. "Let's see if the guys will go and get us some Roo." Lindsay says with a smile.

We get up and Marissa walks ahead of us. Lindsay's eyes go wide and I nod. "I think so too." I whisper and she nods. We go in to the guys and they look up. "Can we order some food? We're starving!" Marissa says with a smile and the guys nod. "Yeah, we'll go get it, what do you guys want?" Samuel asks. We look around and tell him what we want. He nods and goes to get a jacket. He walks out with Damian and we hang arpund the house.

"So, you ready for tomorrow?" Cameron asks and I nod. "Yeah. You?" He nods. "Yep." I nod and we see Alex appearing from the guys dorm. "Hey." I say and he half smiles. The boys get back and we spread out the food. We start eating and Samuel kicks me in the leg. I look up at him and he glances towards Marissa, who hasn't ate much. I nod and continue eating. "How's your food 'Rissa?" I say and she looks up. "It's nice." I nod and look back at Samuel and my phone bleeps.

"Is she ok?"

I look at Samuel.

"I'll tell you later."

I say back and finish eating. "We'll do the dishes." Damian says and I nod. "Wanna go outside?" Samuel says to me as he finishes his food and I nod. "Sure." I say and we walk out to the fire escape. I sit opposite him and our feet touch and we just sit looking around and at each other for a while. He ties his dreads back and I nod.

"Sam." I say and he looks up at me. "We think, she was-" I say and shake my head and look up. "What?" He asks and I put my head down. I whisper the rest and he moves over beside me. I lean my head on his shoulder and he rubs my neck.


	38. Chapter 38

We get up early and get dressed. We walk out to the van, still half asleep and I lean on Samuel. "I'll wake you up when we get there." He whispers and I smile. But that's the thing. I don't sleep, I don't know if it's because I want to see if they talk about me, or if it's because I like the idea of just lying on Samuel- ok, let's back track that thought, crumple it up and throw it in the garbage, _I do NOT like Samuel, not like that anyway._

We come to a hault and the engine stops. Samuel puts his arm on my shoulder. "Nicola." He whispers. I don't move. _It's all in the act._ "Nicola." He whispers again and lets out a slight giggle. I shrug and rub my eyes; _that's it, make it believable._ I open them and fake yawn; _and seal the deal. I'm proud of myself._ "Nice sleep?" He asks and I nod. "Yeah. Thanks." I say and we get out. We are greeted by Erik, Zach, Nikki and Robert. "Hey guys." We smile. "Hi." We say and look at each other. "Today, we are going to film your music video." We nod. "Now, before we film, lets go in here." Robert says and we walk into a smallish room which has 10 chairs and a TV screen. "This is where you will watch each other, when you are not filming." We nod and Robert has another clipboard. "So guys, you had a conversation with Erik here the other day, and we are now looking to know your words." He says while we sit down.

"Damian?" "Numb."

"Emily?" "Used."

"Cameron?" "Misunderstood."

"Lindsay?" "Fake."

"Samuel?" "Rejected."

"Marissa?" "Flawed."

"Alex?" "Gay."

"Nicola?" "Unwanted."

"Matheus?" "Small."

"Hannah?" "Fat."

He nods and we are given white vest tops, black shorts and black sneakers to wear along with heavy jackets. We get changed (Girls first, then we leave and the guys get changed.) We all walk out and see an area cordened off with 10 boards sitting in a circle along with markers. "Ok guys, so it is going to start off with you guys writing your words on your boards." We nod and all sit around at the boards. More people start to appear and some stop and stare. We hear the music playing and start writing our words in thick black marker. When we are finished they call Alex and the rest of us walk back in. We sit down and watch him on the screen while they adjust his sign. He lip sync's along and Marissa starts to cry. I turn around to her. "What's wrong?" Lindsay asks and she says nothing, but walks out to Robert. We watch her and she walks back in by herself. "I'm changing my board." She says between tears and we stand up. "Are you sure you want to do this Marissa?" Lindsay asks and I look her in the eye. She nods and we walk out to re-shoot, we get blank boards but don't have to shoot as much.

When they shout cut we all look over at her, crying while looking at her board.

"Anorexic." I. Knew. It.


	39. Chapter 39

I get up and walk over to her. I hug her and almost everyone breaks down, looking at our boards. "I'm so proud of you." I say and she keeps crying. "How did you know?" She asks me and Lindsay. "I figured it out yesterday." Lindsay says and I look at her. "I realised when we got the chinese and you didn't eat that much." I say and hug her again, before we walk into the room. They call Damian and they shoot it. They call Samuel and I look over. He smiles and walks out.

We watch him and he looks almost like he is in pain. When he is finished, they call me and I walk out, but I don't see him. I shrug and Zach walks over to me.

"Hey Nicola." I smile. "Hey." I say and a group of girls are now standing 10 steps away from us. "So, you're going to start off by doing the first part of your line here." He says and I nod. Then, you're going to walk over to the girls and they'll look you up and down before walking away." I nod. "Then you look at the camera and do the "Going no where. Going no-o where-e." I nod as he half sings. "Then, you walk off with your head down. I nod. "Ok." I smile and get into character.

"Woke up early for the daily races." I sing and start walking towards them smiling. I stop and they look me up and down and laugh. My smile turns to a frown. "Going no where, going no-o where-e." I sing and walk out. He nods and shouts cut. "That was great." I half smile. "Thanks." I say and walk back into the room while taking my board off.

I only see Alex and Emily. "Where are they all?" I ask and they shrug. "They weren't here when I came back from the bathroom." Emily says and I grab my cell, I go to type in Lindsay's number when she walks in. "Where were you?" I ask and she shrugs. "With Samuel." She says with a sigh. "Is he ok?" She shakes her head. "He's really upset." I nod and go to walk out. She grabs my arm and pulls me back. "He doesn't want to see you." I take a step back. "Why not?" I ask and she sighs. "He is really torn up." I nod. "Then i'm going to see him." I say and go to walk out again.


	40. Chapter 40

"Nicola- don't." I take a seat at the back of the room and watch as Emily films her part, which takes about half an hour. Cameron walks back in and he sits beside me. He looks at me and I nod. "I know he doesn't want to see me, but what did I do?" I ask him angrily and he shakes his head. I get up and go to storm out but he shouts back at me. "It's His Aunt!." He says and I turn back around. "She's sick." I nod and sit back down beside him. "She is in surgery. He just got word from his mom." He says and I look at the ceiling. "She's called Nicoletta." I half laugh and nod. "I'm going to see him." I say and get up. "He's already gone." I turn around and look at him. "He already left for the hospital. We finish shooting tomorrow." I nod and see Cameron's hoodie. "Can I borrow that?" I ask and he nods. "Sure." He throws it to me and I smile. I grab my purse and run outside to Robert. "Where's the fire?" He asks with a chuckle. "I have to go to Samuel." He nods. "Ok." I half smile and run out of universal citywalk and get into a taxi. "LA general, please." I say and he nods.

I give him $15 and get out. I go to the front office and a guy stops me. "I'm guessing you're one of Samuel's housemates?" He says while looking me up and down. "Yeah." I say and he holds out his hand. "Manolo Acosta. Samuel's older- better looking half brother." I smile. "Nicola McDowney. Samuel's younger -plain looking best friend." He smiles and we walk in.

"I'll wait here if you want." I say and he shrugs. "Come on." He says and puts his arm around me while we get in the lift. We go on to the ward and Manolo walks over to a man and a woman. I half smile and Manolo nods. "Mom, dad, this is Nicola, Samuel's friend." They both smile and I walk towards them. "Hello." I say and they look at me. "I came straight from the videoshoot." I say and they half laugh. "Samuel is down the corridor, he's sitting on the floor." I nod. "I'll go find him." I say with a smile and excuse myself.

I walk down the hall and see someone lying down with their legs stretched accross the floor, holding the cross that is around his neck. Samuel.

He looks up at me and I nod. I sit down beside him and he moves away a little. I look up at the grey ceiling before looking back at him. I move closer and he puts his head on my shoulder. "How is she?" He nods. "She went into labour about an hour ago. There was some complications and now they're in theatre." He says while rubbing tears from his eyes and I nod. "How far along was she?" He nods. "9 Months." I smile a little. "She'll be fine." I say and he puts his arm around my waist. "I'm here Samuel. I always will be." I whisper and he nods. "Do you wanna go find a couple chairs? I'm sure you are freezing with those shorts on." He says and I laugh. "You don't know anything about me and you're going to be mean about what I'm wearing?" I say and he laughs. "That's my line." He says and I smile.


	41. Chapter 41

"Besides, I know you." I nod. "Yeah, yeah." I say and he looks at me.

"Your favourite colour is blue. Your favourite band is Black Veil Brides. You have never been in love. You can't have a tiny argument with anyone because you are always worried about what you will say. When you get homesick, you are prepared to get on a plane and fly home. You don't like a lot of people fussing over you, yet you fuss over a lot of people. You like rock music and you have converted half the house." I laugh. "You've been the one person in the entire competition, who I can't say a bad thing about. And we love the same pizza topping." I smile and look at him.

"Your favourite colour is grey. Your favourite band is Neon Trees. You have been in love. You haven't had a fight with anyone. You care alot about your faith. You help me when I cry. When I wanted to leave, you're the reason I stayed." I say and he smiles.

"Maybe we do know each other." Samuel says and I smile. "Yeah." I say and he rests his face in my neck.

His cheeks are warm and his eyes red. He closes them and holds the cross wrapped around his neck with his free hand. I look at him and more tears roll silently down his cheeks. We hear footsteps and both look up. "Everything is ok." Manolo says and I look at Samuel. "They are BOTH ok." We both smile and he hugs me, tighter than he ever has. We get up and he hugs Manolo. I smile and the three of us walk back down the corridor to his mom and dad. "Mom, Dad, this is Nicola." Samuel says and they nod. "Yes. Samuel. We have watched the show for two weeks, and we met her when she came in." His dad says and I laugh. "Oh, ok, well i'm going to go dig a hole over there and bury myself in it." Samuel says and we laugh. "Don't do that! We need you for the competition." He nods. "Ok." He says with a wink.

After another hour, Samuel has his head on my shoulder again and a wheelchair comes towards us. "Look." I say with a smile and he looks up. They smile and hug her. "Hi i'm Nicola." I say and she nods. "Hi." She says and I nod. "Congratulations." I say and she half laughs. "Thanks." Nicoletta hands her son to Samuel, who almost cries because he is that happy. She is moved into a room and we follow her. I walk with Samuel and touch his baby cousin's blanket. "It's all ok Samuel." I say and he nods. "Yeah. It is." He says and we sit down. Everyone starts taking pictures and I get out my ipod and take a picture of Samuel kissing his cousins head. He smiles and posts it online.

Life. One Miracle At A Time.

I write and Samuel looks me up and down. "Are you wearing Cameron's hoodie?" He asks me and I nod. "Yeah, it was the closest thing I could find." He laughs. "Mine looks better on you." I smile and someone hands me the baby. "Hey little guy." I say with a smile and play with his tiny hands. "You have no idea how much love there is for you in this room right now." I say and kiss his tiny hands. I look over and see a man, who I am assuming is Samuel's uncle. I smile and hand the baby over to Sam's mum. "Here you go, grandma." I say and she smiles, taking him off me. "Family photo!" A nurse says as she walks in with a polaroid camera. I get up and move out of the way and they all gather around the bed. "Oh no you don't" Nicoletta says and orders Maonlo to pull me over so that I am standing beside Samuel. He puts his arm around me and we smile. The camera clicks and then she takes another, and another.

She gives one to Nicoletta and then gives them to me and Samuel. I smile and walk out into the corridor to get coffees for Manolo and Sam. I walk back in and pass them over. "Do you want me to leave you two back?" Manolo asks and Samuel shakes hsi head. "Would you mind bringing us home? I want to go get my car." Manolo nods. "Sure." He says and I hug Nicoletta. "Congratulations and I'm glad everything is ok." I say and she smiles. "Thanks for coming. Samuel needs more friends like you." I raise my eyebrows. "The kind that hold him when he cries." I look over at him and back at her. "He doesn't cry much." I nod. "He doesn't have anyone to hold him when he does." I half smile. "I'm always there for him. 'Cause he's there for me." I say with a smile and look down at the baby. "See ya later mr." I say and kiss his tiny hand.

I walk over to his mum while he talks to his uncle. "Thanks for coming." She says and I nod. "I just wanted to make sure he was ok." I say and she looks over at Samuel. "There is something about you girl. Something I like." She says to me before Sam and Manolo walk over. "It was nice meeting you." I say and she nods. "And you." We walk out to Manolo's car and I sit in the back.


	42. Chapter 42

We drive for about 20 minutes and go past a sign that says 'Melrose' "Cool! Like Melrose Place" I say and they both laugh. "Yes, i live in a fictional television series." Samuel says and I stick out my tongue at him. He does the same to me and Manolo laughs. "Stick them together and make some magic." He says while looking at us. "Dude, shut up!" Samuel says and goes to hit him but Manolo stops him. "Can't hit the driver!" He shouts while pulling up. When we pull up and get out, Skip walks out. "Hey." He says and hugs Manolo. "How is she?" Skip asks and Manolo. "They're all doing well. She had a boy." He smiles and nods. "Irish, what are you doing here?" He asks and Samuel looks down. "I went to the hospital, to make sure Sam was ok." I say and Sam smiles at me.

"yeah, yeah, just get inside and i'll make you coffee." He says and we smile. We walk in and Samuel looks shocked as he sits down. "Is something wrong?" I ask as he sits up on the counter. "Just weird being home." He says and I smile. I look around the open planned house and the pool in the back garden. "This place makes my house look like a shoebox. and i'm not even kidding." They laugh and Skip takes out the milk and sugar. "Milk and sugar, Irish?" I turn around. "She takes a little milk and two sugars." Samuel says subconsciously and we all look at him. "I said that out loud, didn't I?" He asks after taking a sip of coffee. We nod. "Yep." I say and sit beside Manolo. "So Irish, what's up with the clothes?" I look myself up and down and I nod. "Well somebody here wouldn't let me near him before he left for the hospital, and when I finally got Cameron to tell me I just ran for a taxi." He nods. "You didn't think of grabbing some pants before you left?" I look at him. "I think making sure someone ok is slightly more important than jeans, Skip." I say and Manolo takes out his phone. "Can I quote you on that?" I laugh. "Sure, why not." I say and take another sip of my coffee.

"When do you leave for Ireland?" Skip asks and we look at him. "I have no idea." I say and Sam nods. "Yeah, we leave like on sunday or something I think, but we haven't been given anything yet." Samuel says and I nod. "Your house is cool." I say and they nod. "Heated pool and a jacuzzi out the back. Just sayin'" Skip says in a hillbilly accent and I laugh. I get a text and look at it.

From: Lindsay  
>Is everything ok? we are worried here! Linds Xo<p>

To: Lindsay  
>Yes, everything is fine. I'm at Skip and Sam's house with his brother Manolo, we're getting Sam's car and having some coffee. We'll be back soon. Xo<p>

"Lindsay was texting to make sure everything was ok." I say and he nods. He finishes his coffee and gets up. "We better get going." I nod. "See you later guys." I say and we walk outside. He hits the button on his car keys and I look at the car;

A 70's Mustang

I run over to it and look at him. "What?" He asks and I nod. "Sweet ride." I say trying to compose myself. He smiles and walks over. We get in and he looks at me. "You love my car, don't you." He says calmly. "Sooooo Much." I say and clap my hands. He laughs and starts the engine. "This is like my dream car." I say and he smiles. He pulls out and starts cruising down the road. "Thanks for coming today." I smile. "Don't mention it." I say and he nods. "Even though I asked not to see you, you still came." I nod and look at the dashboard of the car. "What are friends for?" I say and he smiles. He pulls into the car park beneath the fire escape and turns round to me. "It means alot." I smile and he hugs me.

I try to get out but the door won't budge. I look at him and he gets out. He walks around to me and opens my door. "Skip put a childlock on it once, we still don't know how to get it off." I smile and we walk up the steps to see them waiting. Lindsay and Marissa basically lunge themselves at Sam and I walk over to Damian and Cameron. "Everything's fine." I say and they nod. I take Cameron's hoodie off and give it to him. "Well, i'm going to get changed." I say and walk in to the girls dorm.


	43. Chapter 43

I come back out and See Samuel. "Hey." I say and he looks at me. "Can we, talk?" I ask and he nods. We walk into the living area and I close the door behind him. "Is this and intervention?" He asks and I shake my head. "Can I ask you something?" He nods. "Sure." I smile and he sits down on the bed. "What was it like, having your heart broken?" I ask and he nods. "Imagine, being really happy and then really sad, to the point where you don't talk to anyone for weeks. You cry everyday, anything that reminds you of them makes you break down, it's the worst thing i've ever felt." I nod. "That bad, huh?" He nods. "Worst thing ever." I hug him. "I hope you never feel like that again." I muffle into his chest. "And I hope you never have to feel it." I half smile and we walk back out, to see Alex and Lindsay licking whipped cream, off of Hannah's, well, Hannah's breasts. We burst out laughing and sit down.

* * *

><p>I take out the photo and set it on the ledge of the photo of my parents and Laura. I put on my pyjama's and walk back out. "Do you have any photo's of the baby?" Hannah asks and I take out my ipod and show her the picture of Sam holding him.<p>

"Aww!" She says and shows the picture to Marissa and Lindsay. I smile at Sam and they hand me back my ipod. We get some food and the rest of them get ready for bed. I sit and look through the pictures of the baby. I smile and Lindsay comes out to get me. "Were going to sleep." I nod. "Ok." I say and walk with her back to our dorm.

I get in bed and get snuggled up. My ipod bleeps with a message from twitter;

Such a crazy day, time to sleep, thought i'd leave you withbthis picture of NicolaMcDowneyTGP and my cousin.

I click on the image and look at it. I smile; me holding the baby.

I smile and tweet back.

I didn't even know you had a picture!

I like back down and close my eyes. My mobile bleeps and Emily sighs. "Would you please just shut that thing up?" She asks and I roll my eyes.

"Should have asked! Night ;)" I smile and text Sam back.

"Night."

—


	44. Chapter 44

I wake up and get ready for another day of shooting. I put on my costume and get breakfast with Cameron and Damian. "So, where's your boyfriend?" Damian says when I turn the tap on. "That's the problem McGinty. I'm single." I say and lift the washing up liquid. I set it in front of Damian and walk away. "What are you doing with that?" He asks and I nod. "You are going to do the dishes." I say and look at Cameron. "Air Hockey?" He nods and we play a game. Samuel walks in and smiles. "Morning." I say and he nods. "Hey." I look at him and Cameron hits the puck, it hits off my hand and I jump with the pain. "Owh Owh Owh!" I say and shake my hand trying to get rid of the pain. Cameron walks over and looks at my hand. "Yep, your bleeding." He says and I look at my hand, my knuckle is bleeding. Awesome.

"It seems pretty deep." Samuel says and I nod. I walk into the bathroom and put it under the tap. It keeps bleeding and Cameron walks in. "Are you ok?" He asks and I nod. "Yep." He folds his arms. "It wouldn't have happened if you weren't looking at Sam." My eyes bolt to him and laugh. "Yeah, whatever." I say and rub it with a tissue. We walk back out and they get ready to go. I look about with Sam and he comes in from the fire exit. "Who wants a ride?" Samuel asks and I put up my hand. Lindsay and Damian turn around. "What kind of car do you have?" Lindsay asks him. "A mustang." He says and I nod. "And it is HOT." I say and they laugh. "Yeah, i'll go." Damian says and Lindsay nods. "Me too." We say bye to the guys and run down the steps. I turn around to there expressions and smile. "How hot is this car?" I say and they smile. "Hot!" Damian says and I smile. "SHOTGUN!" Lindsay shouts and gets in.

We get there and he stops the car, We get out and they leave to get ready. They shoot the rest of their single parts and I wait in the screening room. They call me out and we do some circular shots of us all singing. They adjust our boards and put us in a line. "Ok, so I want you all to swing around on your heels. Then, you walk away and do what ever you want to your signs." We nod and practice. "Action!" Erik shouts and music plays. We swing around, count to 20 and walk away. I pull the board over my head and look at it. We keep walking and Matheus rips his up. I turn back around and throw it accross the ground. We keep walking until he shouts cut. We turn back and grab them. "That's a wrap!"

We smile and see crowds of people clapping. We throw our boards in the air (or parts of boards in Matheus' case) and get our clothes. We get changed first and I fix my hair. "You guys dressed?" Alex shouts and we turn round. "Yeah!" Lindsay shouts and I take out my lipstick. The guys come in and I put on my red lipstick. "Seriously?" Damian asks while standing beside me. "Red Devil." Marissa says and takes it off me and puts it on. I smile and kiss Lindsay on the cheek. She takes the lipstick off Marissa, outs it on, and kisses me on the cheek. I kiss Marissa on the cheek and she kisses me back, then her and Lindsay. We leave the room with lipstick prints on our faces and go into some girly shops. I see a pink dress in a shop window and look at Marissa.

"You HAVE To Try that on!" I say and she smiles. We walk in and she tries it on, just above the knee with silver beading on the shoulders. "Nicola!" Lindsay shouts and I look at her. I walk over and she holds up a grey dress; it's below the knee, has a v-neckline and has a black gem on the right shoulder. I walk off into the changing room and try it on. "Wait in there a minute, Will you Nicola?" I nod. "Ok, don't take to long!" I shout back and look at myself in the dress.


	45. Chapter 45

20 Minutes Later:

_They've bailed. They have left me, in a shop in Universal Citywalk alone_. I take out my mobile and call her.

"Where are you?" I ask and she laughs.

"I'm coming now!" She says back and I nod.

"Hurry up!" I say while laughing and straighten out the dress.

"Ok, I'm back!" She shouts and I open the curtain and look down while I walk out. "How do I look?" I ask and turn around without taking my eyes of the floor.

"Really pretty." I look up and at Sam. "Hey." I say and he smiles. "I like the colour." He adds and I nod. "Thanks." I say and giggle. "Ok, now leave us alone so that we can finish shopping." He nods. "I'm already gone" He says and walks out of the store. "Where's Marissa?" I ask and she nods. "Getting food with Hannah and Cameron." I nod and walk back into the changing room. I undo the zipper and quickly put it back on the hanger. I put my clothes back on and buy the dress.

"Next stop, food!" Lindsay says and I smile. We go up to the food court and see them all eating. I walk over and stand in the line for subway. "Girl, can you get someone more fake?" I hear someone whisper. "I know, she'd give barbie a run for her money." I look at the people in line in front of me. "Do you see how she looks at Damian?" My mouth falls open and I keep listening to them. To Alex and Emily.


	46. Chapter 46

"She has them all pulled into a tight little clique- makes me feel sorry for Marissa and Samuel really." They sigh and I order my food. I get to the pay station at the same time as them and they smile. "Hey." I look at them. "I heard every word." They look shocked. "What? worried someone would over hear your bitching?" I ask and hand over the money for my lunch to the cashier and look over at them all sitting eating. "She even said it herself!" Emily says and I swing around to look at her. "You're done bitching about me so you're going to move on to her? and besides, what right do you have to bitch about her?" I ask and they just roll their eyes. "I don't give a shit if you bitch about me, as you sure as hell no. But you do NOT bitch about my friends." I say and see Damian waving me over.

Samuel pushes the seat out with his foot and I sit down. "What's up with Emily and Alex?" Marissa asks while biting into her burger. "I'll tell you when we get back to the house, all i'm saying- there is going to be an argument tonight." They nod. "We couldn't have went a week, could we?" Hannah says while lifting a french fry. "I guess not." I say and open up my sub and take a bite.

My mobile bleeps and I look down at it.

FROM Daniel:  
>Just heard you're coming back this week, can't wait to get your sexy ass back home (; Just you and me against the world? (; Xo<p>

I almost choke on my sub and they all look at me. "What is it?" Cameron asks and I shake my head. "Nothing." I say and throw my mobile into the bag with my dress. "I'm going to get a coke." I say and get up. I could kill him. He really wants to go there?_ After what he has done to me?_


	47. Chapter 47

We get into Sam's car and they all turn round to look at me. "1st- what was going on with Alex and Emily? and 2nd- Who was the text from?" Lindsay asks and I sigh. "Well, I better tell you now." I say and they nod. "Emily and Alex were calling you fake." I say to Lindsay and she looks down, hurt. "Then, they started talking about how it's such a pity that Marissa and Samuel are in our tight little clique." They nod. "Great." Samuel says and puts his hand on the steering wheel, but doesn't touch the ignition. "And the text?" Damian asks and the three of them look back at me. "My ex knows we're coming. It's going to be me and him against the world again." I say and they all look at me. "What?" Damian asks and I hand him my mobile.

"Just heard you're coming back this week, can't wait to get your sexy ass back home, winky face, just you and me against the world? Xo" Damian reads out and they look at me. Samuel looks at me and I shrug. "I don't even want to see him." I say and put my earphones in while Samuel starts the car.

* * *

><p>When we get back to the house, we walk up in and see them all chilling in the living area. I walk into the girls dorm and put my dress in the closet. I walk back out and see them all fighting. "Poor little barbie." Emily shouts and I walk over to her. "What did I tell you earlier?" I say and she looks at me. "back off me bitch." I smile. "I told you to back off my friends." I say and she laughs. "Yeah, because they are going to rememeber who you are in five years." She says and pushes me out of her way to get back in Lindsay's face. I pull her back and look at her. "I'm not finished with you yet." I say and she hits me.<p>

She actually slaps me accross the face. I look back at her and go to hit her but Cameron drags me out of the way. "Let go of me!" I say and he has to wrestle me to the floor. "Our dorm." Damian mutters and I get up and casually walk towards the boys dorm. I make a move and bolt up to her before Cameron can grab me. "You finally managed to scrape yourself off the floor?" She says and I raise my hand but Samuel tries to pull me back. I try to push him back and she comes towards me. "Where has all the fight gone? Glee-atch." She says and I lose it. I go towards her and slap her. "Ooh, Sassy." She says and I go to hit her again but Samuel pulls me back. "One hit makes it even, another starts a fight." He says and she laughs. "Starts? Baby boy it's on like donkey kong." She says and walks away to the girls dorm. I look at Lindsay and she is in pieces. I go over to her and hug her.

* * *

><p>We must have sat there for three hours, just letting her cry. The house is definately divided now. Matheus and Alex went to the girls dorm after Emily, followed by Hannah. Damian has been sitting writing in a notebook when he wasn't comforting Lindsay, he finishes and smiles. "What?" I ask and he smiles. "I wrote a rap." He says and bursts out laughing.<p>

**"DOYOUKNOWWHATTAMEAN?" **

**A/N: I suggest you watch his rap on youtube at this point, it won't have any effect on the next chapter, but it will make you happier, and if you're not irish and don't understand our accent, it'll be even funnier for you.**

**A/N2: When I say 'our' I mean the Derry Irish accent that Damian and I have, mine isn't as strong as his but it's still 'Ours' :)**

**A/N3: PLEASE Review! The More Reviews I Get, The Faster I Upload!**


	48. Chapter 48

I go into the girls dorm to get my pyjama's and see Emily sitting on her bed with Alex. I walk on by and get my pyjamas. She stands up and pulls me towards her. "Where'd the fight go? Leave it with Daddy in Ireland?" I look at her and recoil in horror. "That is enough Emily." I turn around and see Samuel. "Screw it." I say and walk past Samuel. I go to the bathroom and get changed. Someone knocks the door as I take out my mobile and ring home. "You ok?" Samuel asks and I nod. "Yeah, just doing something I should have done a long time ago. "Hey sweetie!" Mum says and I smile. "Hey." I say and look at the floor. "Can you give me the number for our local lawyer?" I ask and Samuel's eyes go wide. I write it down on my hand and say goodbye. "Tell your little friends I say hi to!" I laugh. "Bye mum" I say and Samuel looks at me. "My mum says hi." He nods and I type in the number.

"Hello Regis and Co solicitors, how may I help you?" I look at Samuel and then look away and at the mirror. "Hi, I'm Nicola McDowney."

I say and take a deep breath. "I want to file for imancipation." I start and Sam's eyes widen. "From which or both parents?" I nod. "My biological father." I state and play with my pyjama top. "I also want to file for adoption papers." I say and Sam nods slowly. "You want to adopt someone?" She asks confused and I shake my head. "I want my step-dad to adopt me." I say and continue answering her questions. When we are finished she tells me that they will be posted within three days to my home in Ireland and Samuel looks at me for a minute.

* * *

><p>"Did you do that because of Emily?" He asks and I shake my head. "I've wanted to for a while, I just didn't have the balls to do it." He nods. "I can't wait to meet him." He says and I smile. "They can't wait to meet you either." I say and he smiles. "What if they don't understand me?" I laugh. "You're the one who probably won't understand them!" He nods. "True." He says and I put my hair in a bun.<p>

He pulls his dreads together and ties them while I brush my teeth. He does the same and we walk back out. "I don't want anyone else knowing, about my dad." I whisper and he wraps his arm around me. "My lips are sealed." He says and we walk into the kitchen. "About what I said." Emily says and I shake my head. "I'm over it." I say and break away from Sam.

"I'm-" I shrug. "I'm over it Emily." I say and Matheus looks at me. "You could just except her apology!" He says and I shrug. "She bitched about Nicola's vulnerability!" Cameron says and starts arguing with Matheus. "Maybe if she stopped it wouldn't have gone that far." Alex says and Sam gets up. "Don't." I say and get up. "I did deserve it." I say while putting on my shoes. "Where are you going?" Lindsay asks and I shrug. "Anywhere but here." I say and put on my hoodie.

"It's dark out." Damian says and Sam nods. "I'll go with you." I shake my head. "I'll be gone for ten minutes." I say and walk outside. I climb down the fire escape and sit underneath it. I sit on the ground and put my hand on the scar on my shoulder. I hear the steps clang and stay silent. "Where would she go?" I hear Lindsay ask and some of them go off in seperate directions.

5minutes later.

A figure sits beside me. I look at them and they use their phone to light up there face. Marissa.

She wraps her arms around me and we both sit crying. "Are you ok?" She asks and I nod. "Yeah, are you?" I ask and she nods. "Just, alot of things are building up." I nod and we hear them coming towards us. "Are you two ok?" Cameron asks and we nod. "Yeah, we're fine." Marissa says and they pull us up.

"I'm tired." I say with a yawn and Samuel wraps his arms around me while we walk upstairs. I hug each of my friends in turn and go into the bedroom. I sit on my bed and lift the photo's. I turn it over and take out the back piece. I lift out the tiny picture anfd hold it for a minute. "See you soon." I whisper before hiding it back in the photo frame and going to sleep.

**A/N: Hey Guys (: I Just Want To Say A MASSIVE Thank You For Reviews (Even If I Did Force them Out Of A Few Of You (; ) I Guess By Now You Have Noticed This Story Is Going To Be Very Long, Especially With the Chapters To Come. But I Want To Thank You all For Your Continuous Support, And I Have To Thank My Girls (These Are Their Twitter Usernames And Their Actual Names)**

**ILoveSammySam/ MikeJackFanat (Shanelle)**  
><strong>NYCortes (Ashley)<strong>  
><strong>ChazMonsterRawr (Chaz)<strong>  
><strong>Maajo257 (Majo)<strong>  
><strong>ValeriaDeLama (Valeria)<strong>

**You Are ALL AMAZING And I Love Talking To You On Twitter. (Oh, And Shanelle, Ashley And Chaz, I LOVE Being Your Editor Too ;)**  
><strong>Lots Of Love, Nami Xo<strong>


	49. Chapter 49

We all lie in, it's been an emotional week and we are all mentally and physically drained. I lie in bed and lift the photo of me and Samuel's family. I try and name each one in my head and smile as I remember what they said to me. I set it back up and get out. I go towards the bathroom with my make up bag and spread everything out in front of me. I've decided to go subtle today-

light foundation with a touch of blusher on the apples of my cheeks like Lindsay does. Along with some baby pink eyeshadow and tinted lip balm.

I walk back in and get dressed, I put on my skinny jeans, red converse and a light pink t-shirt- I told you I was exhausted. I see Emily in the living area and dodge her completely- screw the moral high road. This bitch has pissed me off- and everyone knows it. She's only trying to say sorry for the cameras.

I walk into the kitchen and start making breakfast for everyone. I set everything out on the table and obviously the smell of food has wafted throughout the house- everyone comes in half asleep and groaning. "Come on guys." I say and sit at the table. They sit around and as soon as they eat, they perk up.

"So, Marissa." Emily starts when we have finished eating. She gets up and walks towards the sink with her plate, she throws her a dirty look- Marissa is a fiery red head after all. I get up and Damian helps Marissa with the dishes. "You look exhausted." Samuel says to me and I nod. "I tried to look better with make up, but it doesn't change how tired I am." I say with a yawn and he smiles. "You don't need make up to look better." He says and walks towards the bathroom. I play with his bracelet on my arm and walk with Lindsay and Marissa into our dorm. They get dressed and we walk back into the living area. We sit in the egg chairs and Cameron sits taking pictures of us. I smile and Cameron nods. "That would have been more cute if Samuel didn't photobomb you." I turn around and see him above me. "Hey!" I shout in an angry-mocking tone and he laughs. "I will photobomb you Mr. Larsen!" I say and he laughs.

When everyone is dressed I go into the guys dorm and lie up on Samuel's bed. I yawn and look through my mentions.

_"I LOVE You Guys."_  
><em>"Screwing The Moral High Road Today. Sometimes You Just Have To Give In."<em>  
><em>"Won't You Let Your Fires Burn?"<em>

I tweet and lie back down and with a yawn, i'm out.


	50. Chapter 50

I wake up three hours later with something on top of me. I look at it, Samuel's hoodie. I get up and fix my hair in the mirror. I hang his hoodie up in his closet and walk out. "Hey." I say and sit down beside Lindsay. "Hey sleepy head." I smile and look around. "Where are the boys?" I ask and she nods. "They went out to play some pool." I nod. "But there is a pool table here?" She smiles. "I think they just wanted out of here for a while." I nod and fix myself again for this evening.

Could I be much more nervous? It's not like any of us can say we have had a 'good' week- we've burst out crying every 10 minutes and tried to give each other black eyes. But, here we go.

We walk in and stand in front of Robert and Zach.

"Hey guys." We half smile and look at them. "Hey." We say while sighing and they smile. "This has been a very tough week for all of you." We nod and Zach claps his hands together. "But that's over now, it's time to get back to the competition." We nod.

"Damian. Samuel. Marissa. Nicola." We nod at Robert and look at them.

"You will all be coming back next week." We half jump and Go to walk out, but I look at Cameron and Lindsay. She's panicking already. When we get back into the main room Samuel hugs me and I am so excited I almost wrap my legs around him. The four of us hug but I look back at the door. "Guys." I say and they nod. "They're still in there." I say and everyone's faces fall.

This is the longest 5 minutes of my life. Two of my best friends are being lectured in there, and the thing is that I think they were great, not just from a friend's point of view, but have you heard them sing? They are fricken amazing!

We hear doors open and I look at Marissa. We get up and Lindsay walks in with Hannah and Alex. "Oh thank god!" I shout and run over to her. I grab Lindsay. I laugh and look at the friendship bracelets on all our wrists. "Cameron." Damian says while looking at them and our smiles turn back into frowns. "He's gonna be ok." Samuel says and pats him on the shoulder. They walk in and we hug him.

"What song do you have to sing?" Marissa asks him and his eyes flicker to her. "Your Song, Elton John." He says and we nod. "I'm gonna go practice though." We nod. "You'll be fine Cam." Damian says and hugs him again. The three of them walk out and I play with my bracelets.

3 Hours Later.

We hug Cameron one last time before he goes to look at the list. We hear the jumping and the silence. We look at the screen and then at each other.

Not Called Back : Emily.

We walk into the room to hug them and Emily walks over to me. She hugs me with tears down her face and I look at her. "I'm sorry." She says and I nod. She hugs Hannah for ages and I walk into our dorm with my friends. I hug Cameron again and smile. "Thank god!" I say and he smiles while hugging them all again. The guys jump up on our beds while we put make up on. "I don't get why you have to put so much cake on." Damian says and we all give him evil eyes. "He has a point." Cameron says and we shrug. "I guess we're just used to doing it." Lindsay says and I nod. "It's like you're wearing masks." Samuel says and I nod. "I guess we are." I say while putting on my lipstick.

"Without make up, we have to show who we really are." Marissa says and Cameron gets up. "Then do it." He says and we look at him. "Huh?" Lindsay says and Cameron gets up, followed by Damian, realising what Cameron means. "Don't wear make up." We nod. "And what do we get?" I say and they nod. "You get to make us do whatever you want." I bite my lip and look at the girls. "Deal." Lindsay says and stretches out her hand to Cameron. The guys smile and leave us to get changed. "Oh, by the way." Cameron shouts and we turn around. "You might need these." He says and throws us a packet of make up wipes.


	51. Chapter 51

We walk into a club and all sit at the bar. "10 Tequila's!" Emily shouts and they give them out. We drink them and she orders another round. We set them in front of us and nod.

"Ok, guys, body shot them." I say and they look at us. "What?" Cameron asks and I smile. "We came out with no make up so you have to body shot the shots." I say and they nod. "Fine. Off who?" Samuel asks and Lindsay smiles and starts giggling. "Do yours of Nicola." she says and his eyes go wide.

I shrug. "Dude, a bet is a bet, you gotta pay up." I say and he laughs. We walk over to a table and he helps me lie down on it. "Wait, I need to video this." Cameron says and takes out his iphone. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I welcome you to The Glee Project Body Shotability Of 2011!" Marissa says and laughs.

Lindsay passes Sam the salt and I lift my t-shirt to just below my bra. "This is so wrong." I say and he nods. "I know." He says and starts shaking salt on to my stomach. He sets the shot on my ribcage and leans over me. He grabs the shot with his teeth and throws it down his throat, he sets the glass on the table and licks the salt of my stomach and I laugh. He does a thumbs up into the camera and helps me back up, by this stage there is a small crowd gathered and we sink into the seat.

"My turn!" Lindsay says and lies down. Emily shoves a shot in Damian's hand and he goes red. "M-me." I nod. "If Samuel had to do one from me, you have to do one from her!" I say and he nods reluctantly. Sam passes him the salt and he does the body shot off her. She giggles and sits up on the table. He laughs into the camera and I grab the back of her t-shirt, come sit down." I say with a smile and she nods. "What?" She moans. "You were going google eyed. You could have kissed him or something!" I say and she nods.

We look at Cameron and he shakes his head. "Nuh-uh." We nod. "Uh-huh!" Lindsay says and we force Marissa on to the table. She lifts her t-shirt and Cameron looks like he is going to faint. I set his on her stomach and she nods. He grabs the salt from Damian and sprinkles it on her stomach. He gulps and nods. He takes off his glasses and goes for it.

That was the fastest body shot I have ever seen. He literally just went for it straight away.


	52. Chapter 52

Sunday Afternoon.

We film Emily's 'Keep Holding On' and Robert walks over to us.

"Guys." He says and we nod.

He smiles and is holding envelopes. He starts handing them out and I smile. "You guys better go pack." We nod and walk back into the house.

When the guys finish packing they walk in and sit up on Lindsay's bed. "Hey." I say and lift my grey hoodie out of the wardrobe. "Hey." They say and I finish packing. I lift my handbag and empty everything out on my bed. I put my mobile, my passport and my ipod in it along with my boarding pass. I fix my make up and put a beanie on. "You guys excited about going home?" Hannah asks and I shrug. "Yeah." I say and finish everything.

"Are you guys finished?" Emily asks and we nod. "Yeah." She nods. "Good, 'cause the van is here to go to the talk show thing." We nod and Sam turns around. "Throw your luggage in my car." I nod and drag my bag down the fire escape and throw it in the boot of his car, or 'trunk' as they are calling it.

We get into the van and I sit down beside Sam. "How long is the flight?" I smile. "11 hours." He nods. "Great." I smile. "Your first flight, and it's going to be half a day long!" Lindsay says and get out at the oxygen studios and walk in. "Hello." She says and we sit down. "Hey." We say and wave at the TV.

1 Hour Later.

"SO." We smile. "Hows it goin' guys?" We nod. "Yeah, good." We say and she smiles. "It has been a very tough week." Lindsay says and she nods. "What was it like telling your vulnerability to the others?" We all kind of look at each other and I nod.

"It was always going to be difficult telling each other our vulnerabilities. But y'know, we've gotten really the past few weeks and and I honestly think that this was one of the hardest weeks of the competition we will have." I say and she nods. "you're tweets were quite interesting the other day." I nod and try to put words together. "I was angry. I mean, you seen what happened the other night, and I just gave in." She nods and we keep answering questions. "What is next guys? I mean, you're taking a two week hiatus!" She says and we laugh. "Well, in about 2 hours, Nicola, Damian, Lindsay and I are getting on a plane and going to Ireland!" Samuel says proudly and I smile. "And I am going back to Brazil." Matheus adds and she smiles. "Really!" She asks and we nod. "Yeah, Damian says with a smile. "How does it feel, going to meet their families?" She asks Lindsay and she nods. "A little intimidating, I mean we are going to live with them and they have to put up with these two americans for basically two weeks!" We smile and I turn to her.

"We don't bite!" I say and she smiles. "Hard." Damian adds and we burst out laughing.


	53. Chapter 53

"How excited are you to go away?" She asks Samuel and he nods. "Stoked. I've never even left the country before, so to go so far away is going to be amazing." He says with a smile. "You're just excited to meet Nicola's family." She says with a wink and he laughs. "That's true though!" Cameron says and laughs. "He doesn't give an F about my family, as long as he meets Nicola's step dad, his holiday is made." Damian says and we laugh. "I just want to meet him ok? He seems like a cool guy." I laugh and Marissa pipes up. "He could go see anything in Ireland, and he wants to

After another 15 minutes we get into the van and are drove back to the house. "Skip is gonna come with us to the airport and drive my car back." Samuel says and I nod. "I am so stoked!" Samuel says again while getting out of the van. We walk in and sit down and wait. I lift my boarding pass from my bag and open the envelope.

"What are you doing?" Marissa asks and I look up at her. "I don't want to look stupid opening an envelope at check in!" I say and the other four take theirs out too. I lift it out and read over it. "Guys?" I say and look at their reactions.

"WE ARE FLYING FIRST CLASS!" I shout and jump. We hear a knock at the door and Alex lets Skip in. "Irish, Dreads, Leprechaun, Theatre." He says to the four of us and Lindsay and Damian giggle at their nicknames.

We get up and hug everyone. We leave for the airport and take pictures in the car. When we get stuck in traffic Samuel turns around to look at me and I snap a picture for twitter.

_Look at our driver, isn't he pretty? (;_

I write and laugh.

When we get to LAX We get out and Skip stands in front of us with his iphone he takes pictures of us and we say goodbye. "See you soon." He says and hugs me and Samuel again. He gets in Sam's car and drive away. We haul our luggage inside and are mobbed by kids. We smile for photos before going to check in. "Take this door please, for the first class lounge." We smile. "Thank you." I say and we skip through the door and into the lounge, which looks absolutely amazing, different boutiques, amazing restaurants, screw Ireland. I'll stay here.


	54. Chapter 54

We take a booth and all squish together for a video. We can't stop giggling and I use the front camera on my ipod. "Hello beautiful people!" Samuel says and we smile. "We are four of the nine contestants from The Glee Project Class Of Season 1." Lindsay says and I smile. "And we are in the FIRST CLASS LOUNGE OF LAX." I say and they laugh. "So, how excited are we to go to Ireland?" Samuel asks and I smile. "STOKED!" I whisper shout and they laugh. "Terrified." Lindsay says and I laugh. "I don't think I wanna take them home." Damian says and I smile. "Let's ditch them, right here, right now." I say and Samuel hits me on the back of the head. "You are not ditching us now. Anyway guys, we gotta go again." he says with a smile. "We love you and we will talk to you soon!" Damian says with a smile. "What is goodbye for now in irish?" Lindsay ask and we smile. "Slan gó fóill." We say at the same time and they nod "Slan-go-foil." They say and we nod. "Slán go fóill." We all say and burst out laughing.

We start going around the shops and sit together while reading news papers. My phone bleeps and I look at it. I smile and turn around to them.

"Just a few more hours till we meet again, to see your laughs and smiles, we're counting the minutes, moments ever lasting. Within 12 hours we'll have you here within our grips, even just for a while, it'll be worth it. See you soon, Lots Of Love, Mr & Mrs Mclaughlin and Mr & Mrs McGinty." I say and they all smile. "Aww." Lindsay says and takes my phone to read it again. "So, our parents are hanging out together?" I nod. "Must be waiting on us." I say and smile. "Flight A5D 7FL2 Is Now Boarding." We smile and jump up. "Come on!" Samuel says and I put my bag on my shoulder. I walk with Lindsay and the boys walk ahead of us. The four of us get in line and are quickly seated.

I can't believe this! This is amazing! We are sitting in a four (2 facing 2 with a table in between) Me and Lindsay at one side with Samuel and Damian facing us. "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to flight A5D 7FL2 from LAX to Belfast International. Estimated flight time is just over 11 hours, I hope you enjoy your flight and air hostesses will be around shortly to take your orders for dinner and your breakfast." We smile and the plane starts moving. "I wanna be beside the window!" Samuel complains and Lindsay smiles. "Here, I don't really like watching take off." She says and they quickly swap seats. We all look out through the windows and his eyes light up.


	55. Chapter 55

When we are finally in the air the seat belt signs go off and the air hostess comes over to us. "Evening, can I take your dinner orders?" She asks and we all quickly scan over the menus. "Can I get a steak?" Samuel says and I nod. "Oh, can I have the prawn salad?" I ask and she nods. "I'll have the chicken maryland." Damian says and Lindsay looks up. "Can I have a lobster?" She asks and giggles. We all drop our menus and look at her. "What? I wanna try it!" We laugh and the hostess nods. "And for breakfast?" She asks and we nod. "Just toast." Samuel asks and I nod. "Can I have a fruit salad?" I ask and she nods. "Oh, make that two." Lindsay says and Damian looks up. "I'll have some toast just too please." He says and we thank her before she walks away.

We sit looking out the window and start taking pictures of each other. "I wanna post these now." Damian says and a girl from another set of four turns around to us. "Oh, you can, there is wifi in here." She says and I nod. I turn back around but do a double take. "Sierra Kusterbeck?" I breathe out and Samuel look at me. "Huh?" He asks and I shrug.

Another hostess comes with our food and they set a steak in front of me before leaving. "You ordered the prawn salad?" Samuel says and I nod. "I have it!" I turn back around to the Sierra Kusterbeck look alike and we both get up to swap plates. "Thanks." I say annd she smiles. "No problem Nicola." She says and nods. We set our plates down and before sitting down and I see a guy sitting beside her. "Uhm, is that Blake?" I ask and she nods. "Yeah." I wave and he waves back. "Nerd." Lindsay whispers and Sierra puts out her hand. "Sierra Kusterbeck." I smile. "Nicola McDowney." I say and she smiles. "Nice to meet you." She says and I nod. Damian coughs and raises his eyebrows. "Sorry. This is Lindsay Pearce, Samuel Larsen and Damian McGinty." I say and she waves. "Hey guys." They smile and say hi back. "Well, i'm starving, so i'm gonna eat." I nod. "Nice meeting you Sierra." I say and laugh.

I sit down and lift one of the prawns off my plate. I eat it and smile. "Mmm." I say and laugh. "Good?" Samuel asks and I nod and lift one to his mouth. "Here." He looks at it. "I have steak!" I nod. "Well think of it as surf n turf." He nods. "Weird irish food." He says and opens his mouth for me to put the prawn in. I hear a click and we look over at Damian who takes a picture of us before continuing to eat. "Good prawn." He says and I nod. I look at Lindsay who is jjust staring at her lobster. "What's wrong?" I ask and she looks up. "I don't know how to get the meat out." She says and I laugh. Damian lifts her knife and stabs it, making us all jump because of the noise. She starts cutting it and thanks him.

When we finish eating, our plates are taken away and we relax in our seats.

After a while I get a text on my phone and look at Samuel.

FROM: Samuel  
>I want to get my guitar out.<p>

I smile. "I think you should." I say and he nods. He leans down and opens a compartment and grabs his guitar. "Sweet." Blake says and he smiles. "Thanks." He says and he starts playing with it.

We hear another guitar and I turn around and Blake has his out. The pair of them sit messing around and Sierra stands up and looks at me. "Toxic?" She asks and I almost faint. Sam looks at me and nods. "Go for it." Lindsay takes out her phone and starts recording. "You ready Sam?" Blake says and gets up. He gulps and I smile. "Go for it." I say and wink.

We get up and the guys start playing. I breath deep and she starts singing, I harmony and it sounds awesome. "Wow." She says when its over and I smile. Some people clap and others scowl. Lindsay rests her head on Damian's shoulder and we sit in with Sierra and Blake who have folded their table down. We smile and all take photos. "Since when are you guys playing in Ireland?" I ask and they smile. "We have a few private shows." I nod and just sit talking.

* * *

><p>"Well guys, it's been fun making music with you and talking, but i'm going to sleep." Blake says and I nod. "Yeah, night guys." We say and get back up and I move so that Samuel can get in. We sit down and the other two are sitting giggling. "What's up guys?" I ask and they shrug. "Jager." I stare at them. "What?" Samuel asks and he shows us the video.<p>

"Usually boyfriend's wait until they are in a serious relationship with a girl before they meet her parents, yet Samuel is currently on a plane with Nicola, Damian, Lindsay and Sierra and Blake from VersaEmerge, getting ready to meet her parents in the morning. Have a good rest guys and we'll hear from you soon."

We laugh and all recline our chairs. "Night guys." Lindsay says while pulling the mask over her eyes, copied by Damian and I look at Samuel. We turn around to each other in our seats and I sit playing with his fingers. "You ready to go home?" He asks and I shrug. "I'm not as nervous as I was." I say and he nods. "I'm even getting nervous now." I laugh. "They're gonna love you." I say and he smiles. "I wish." I smile. "I have to go and visit my friend at the rehab centre on wednesday, I want to go alone." He nods. "You sure." I nod. "Yep." He smiles. "No probs." He says with a smile and holds my hand. We pull the masks down with our other hands and drift to sleep.

* * *

><p>We wake up to hear people moving around us. I pull up my mask and Damian and Samuel are talking to Blake while Sierra is talking to someone else accross from us. "Morning sleepy head." She says and I smile. "Morning." I say and grab a hair brush. I fix my hair and go towards the bathroom with Sierra. We walk in and fix our make up and adjust her hair feather. I smile and fix my eyeshadow. "I'll be back in a second." I nod. "Ok." I say and she walks out while Lindsay walks in to go to the toilet. "Breakfast will be ready in half an hour." I nod. "Ok." I say while Sierra walks back in. "Come here." She says and I walk over to her. She pulls at my hair and I look at her. I hear a click and she smiles. "What did you do?" I ask and she smiles. "Look." I go over to the mirror and look at my hair. "Thanks!" I say and smile- she gave me one of her hair feathers. Lindsay smiles and we take pictures in the mirror<p>

* * *

><p>1 Hour Later.<p>

We sit talking and chatting with Sierra and Blake.

A bell rings and the pilot comes over the inter com.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, If you would like to look out of your windows, we are currently flying over the english channel, and you will be able to make out a green shape on your left." He says and we all look out the windows and I can feel tears welling up already.

"Now, we will start descending and we will be at Belfast International within 45 minutes. Please fasten your seatbelts and keep them fastened until we land. Thank you." He says and I look at Samuel he smiles. "I can't wait!" He says and claps his hands. I smile and Lindsay laughs. "Oh my god, we are actually here!" Lindsay says and we watch as the plane dips through the air. I smile and when we are about to hit the runway I look at Samuel. "Brace yourself." I say and he shrugs. "What for?" I laugh. "Runway." Lindsay says and the plane bounces of the runway. "What the F-" I put my hand to Samuel's mouth. "Calm down!" I say and he shrugs my hand away. "We are just landing." I say and we hit the ground again and keep going forward. He holds my hand while looking slightly scared and when the plane stops, the pilot starts talking again.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for flying with us, I would also like you all to thank your cabin crew." We clap and they smile. "We have now arrived at Belfast Internation airport, county derry, Northern Ireland, local time: 2pm. Enjoy your stay and I hope to be seeing you all again soon." We clap and start getting things ready to get off the plane. We take pictures and exchange numbers with Blake and Sierra- yes, VERSAEMERGE HAS MY MOBILE NUMBER!


	56. Chapter 56

We walk on through the tunnel and Damian stops and looks at me. "We're home." He says and has a tear on the edge of his eye. "Don't start me." I say and we hug. The other pair smile and we all take pictures together. "Toto's finally back in Kansas." Samuel says to me as we walk towards baggage claim. "Pink Shorts finally left the USA." I say and he smiles. We grab our bags and wave goodbye to Sierra and Blake as they walk off in another direction. We walk into the main room and I see Damian and my family standing with massive posters.

"WELCOME HOME DAMIAN AND NICOLA!" "WELCOME TO IRELAND LINDSAY AND SAMUEL!"

We take pictures and I drop my luggage and run over to them. I cling on to them and see Damian hugging his parents beside me. I look back at Samuel and Lindsay, who are muttering to each other and we walk over to them. "I have some people that want to meet you." I say and pull Samuel over with me. "This is Samue Larsen." I say and he waves awkwardly. My little cousin hugs him around the knees and he gets down to her level. "Hey, can I chill with you? All those guys seem kind of scary." He says and points to all our family. "Ok, but you're going to have to carry me." She says and he nods. "Deal." He says and winks.

"Mum, dad-" They shake their heads. "Introduce us at home." We nod and Sam lifts Erica up. "A deals, a deal." He says and I nod. We all start walking out. "Oh, that's your ride home, by the way." Damian's mum says.

"WHAT?" I say and look at the black limo. "See you at home." Mum says and I get in beside Lindsay. I look back out and see Samuel putting Erica onto my aunts car. I smile and he gets in beside Damian.

"Welcome to Ireland guys." I say with a smile and they giggle. After we set off, Samuel and Damian squish in between us. I hold up my ipod and use the front camera.

"HEY!" We shout and laugh. "We're in Ireland!" Lindsay says and I smile. "Ireland Baby!" Samuel says and I laugh again.

"Just thought you should know we got here safe." Damian says and I smile.

30minutes Later.

I look at the skylight and pull it back. I pop my self up through it and smile. "Guys." I say and they get up. I half smile and see crowds of people in my hometown. The entire place goes up in roars of cheer as we come into it. I smile and see massive banners and posters.

I turn around and look at Lindsay. "Hey Nicola." Sam says and I turn around to him. "Yeah." He smiles. "Welcome home." I. Smile and hug him. "I'll cry you goof!" I say and hit his arm. He laughs and we get to


	57. Chapter 57

"Guys." I say and they get up. I half smile and see crowds of people in my hometown. The entire place goes up in roars of cheer as we come into it. I smile and see massive banners and posters.

I turn around and look at Lindsay. "Hey Nicola." Sam says and I turn around to him. "Yeah." He smiles. "Welcome home." I. Smile and hug him. "I'll cry you goof!" I say and hit his arm. He laughs and we get to my house.

We get out and drag our bags into the house. I show Damian and Samuel to their room and Lindsay smiles. "You're bunking with me." I say and she claps her hands, I open the door and she opens my closet. "What is this?" She asks and pulls the door back to show me a blackboard. I laugh and walk over to it.

"Go To The Glee Project."  
>"Don't Bitch."<br>"Believe In Myself."  
>"Don't Let Others Feel Sorry For Me."<br>"Tell Someone The Truth."  
>"Visit Ciara."<p>

She reads out and I half smile. "Well, it's one way to get your tasks in order." She says and closes the door. The guys walk in and I smile. "Finished unpacking?" I ask and they nod. "Well then, it's time to meet the parentals." I say and they smile. "Come on." I say and Samuel half jumps while walking out of my room and hits his head of the door frame. "Owwch!" I look at him and he holds his head. "You ok?" I ask and he nods. "Yes." I laugh and we walk into the kitchen. I smile and we stand in front of my parents. "This is Lindsay and this is Damian." I say and they smile and Samuel looks down at the ground and I walk over to dad with Samuel. "You have no idea how much Samuel has wanted to meet you, daddy." I say and he nods. "Nice to meet you Samuel." He says and Samuel smiles. "Nice to meet you too, sir." Sam says and looks down kind of nervous. "So, I heard you like music." He says and Sam nods. "Yes, sir." He says and Dad smiles. "Cut with the Sir, Crap and lets go play some music." He says and Sam looks up shocked. "Huh?" Dad laughs. "Go get your guitar and meet me in the back garden." He says and walks outside.

Samuel looks at us and I shrug. "W-what just happened?" He asks and I laugh. "He plays the banjo." Mum says and Sam raises his eyebrows. "Awesome." He says and walks back down the room to get his guitar. "When's mum and dad getting here?" Mum smiles, oh, they're on there way, they're stuck in traffic at the minute." He nods and Lindsay looks around. "Do you want me to do anything?" Mum laughs. "Sweetie, you're a guest!" Mum laughs and Lindsay smiles nervously. "I am going to get a couple glasses and we can sit outside with a glass of wine." I look at mum. "Mum!" I say and she looks at Lindsay. "Oh, do you not drink?" She asks and I laugh. "She does, but they don't drink at 4 o'clock in the evening!" I say and Lindsay laughs. "Wait till 6pm?" I ask her and laugh. "Ok." She says and I look over at Damian. "So, will we go out to the music makers?" Lindsay asks and they nod. We all walk out to my garden and Lindsay smiles; it's really long and has flowers in pots all over the garden, I used to nickname it the pixie garden. I look over at the deck and see Samuel and Dad sitting talking.

"Hey." I say and Lindsay sits up beside Samuel and I sit on the ledge of the decking and take out my phone. "So, how are you coping?" Dad asks and I smile. "Ok." I say and they laugh. "Hot mess." Lindsay says and Dad looks at her confused. "Looking great, but feeling bad." She translates and he nods. "That's like me every morning." He says with a wink and we laugh. "And you Damo, how's it been?" He nods. "Aye, great, just been a bit hard at times, as y'know." He says and dad looks at him. "What do you mean?" He asks and we all look at each other. "Oh, you haven't seen it yet, have you?" I ask and he shrugs. "No, it's on tonight." Mum says and I look at them. "I don't think I want to watch it again." I say and they half laugh. "This weeks theme, was Vulnerability." Sam says and I look at mummy. "They know." I say and she half smiles. "Proud of you." I say and look at Dad. "And with the way she talks about you in that house, you're the only dad she's ever had in her eyes." Sam says and he smiles. "Well, y'know I appreciate that." He says and I hug him. "Mum, have I got any mail?" I ask and she nods. "Yeah, something came this morning." I nod and walk into the house. I lift the envelope off the table and go into the sitting room. I kneel on the floor and read it.

I grab a pen and sign everything that I need to. Samuel walks in and looks at me as I sign the last form. "Now, I just need them to sign them and I'll be all set." I say and he half smiles. "Your mom was saying something about us all going to Laura's house?" I nod. "Yeah, she lives over there." I say and point out the window at the house that is for houses up from us. "Yeah, you wanna go?" I nod. "Sure, I'll just put these away in my room and we can go on up. He smiles and hugs me. "What's that for?" I ask and he shrugs. "I just felt like hugging you." I smile and walk back out the back. "We're going to go and see Laura." I say and we walk out the front door. "So, you ready to watch it again?" I ask Lindsay and she shrugs. "You know what? I'm ready to move on." She says and smile. "Me too." I say and I look at the house next to Laura's. "Who lives there?" Damian asks and I turn around to look at him. "Daniel." I say and his eyes almost pop out. "Lets go." I say and walk on down the driveway and open the door. Alfie gets up and runs at me. I grab him and pull him into my arms. "Hello Alfie!" I say and he giggles. "Hello Ne-Ne!" He says and kisses me.

"Who t-at?" He asks and points at Samuel. "That's Sam." I say and he nods. "Bam." I laugh and he points at Sam's hair and then plays with his own. "Ne-Ne, Hair!" He says shocked and I laugh. "Hey auntie." I shout upstairs and Lindsay sits playing with Erica and Damian. She walks down and hugs me. "Where is Laura?" I ask and she smiles. "Upstairs." I nod. "Who with?" I ask and she smiles. "Some of her friends." I nod. "Oh, right." I say and she points at me to go up. "Hey, Alfie, you want to play with Sam's hair?" I ask and he nods. "Ya." He says and I pass him over. I walk up the stairs and when I open the door I see them all smiling. "Hey Lala." I say and hug her. "Don't call me that." She says and I nod and walk over. "Oh, too cool for me now, are you?" I ask and laugh. Her friends all giggle and I smile.

"Girls, I'm still regular old me." I say and hug the,. "So, where's your friends?" She asks me and I shrug. "Down playing with our cousins." I say and hear a knock on the door. "Enter at your own risk." I shout and laugh. "Are you decent?" Lindsay asks and I shrug. "Yes." I say and laugh. The three of them walk in, with Samuel carrying Erica and Damian holding alfie's hand. Lindsay drops herself down on my knee and I smile. "Well baby." I say to her and Laura gets a text and closes the blinds. "You guys wanna watch a movie?" She asks and I look at them. "Sure." We say and she puts a movie in the DVD.


	58. Chapter 58

2 Hours later.  
>The credits roll and I look over at Sam and Erica- she is asleep on his chest and he is half asleep too. I get up and the girls start going downstairs. Damian and Lindsay play with Alfie and Laura goes with them downstairs and I look back over at them. His eyes flutter open gently and he smiles while rubbing his eye. "Hey." I smile. "Hey." I say and he looks at Erica and laughs. "I must be comfy." I nod. "You probably are." I say and he laughs. "Here, I'll take her into my aunts room so that she can have a proper nap." He nods and I lift her off his chest. I carry her into my aunts room and lie her down in the bed and walk back out to see him fixing his hair in Laura's mirror. "Who you trying to impress?" I ask and he laughs. "Who ever wants to be impressed." He says with a wink and we go downstairs. Damian glances out the window and smiles.<p>

"That's my mum's car!" He says and gets up. I look over at Laura and she nods. I walk over to her and smile. "What's going on?" I ask. She shrugs. "Nothing." I nod. "They're together, aren't they?" I ask and she shrugs. "I don't know, I don't think so." I nod and my Aunt smiles. "You going to go down and see them then Damian?" She asks and he nods. "yeah!" I laugh and we get up and walk out. "Bye Bam." Alfie says and I laugh. "Thanks Alfie." I say and we walk down the road and towards my house. I look back up at Daniel's house and Samuel looks at me. "You want to go see him?" He asks and I shrug. "Maybe." I say back and he nods and puts his hands in his pockets while we walk on down.

We walk in through the front door and talk to Damian's parents. "Hey!" I say and they hug me. "Hows he copin' ?" His mum asks and I nod. "Doin' great Mrs McGinty." I say and she smiles. I get a text and look at it.

FROM: Cameron.  
><em>Hows It Going In The Green Country? Cam.<em>

I laugh and show it to them.

I smile and text him back.

TO: Cameron  
><em>Goin Great, Although Vulnerability Is Being Shown Here tonight, So We Have To Watch It Again, That Sucks. But I Think We're All Over It. Hope You And Macy Are Doing Good! Nicola.x<em>

"It's starting guys!" Dad says and I look at them and we follow him out the back. We look around; The place is full of our relatives and friends. That's when I see them. Who? Oh, Y'know, Just my ex-boyfriend Daniel all happy with my cousin in law Karla. I sit at a table near the front with Samuel, Damian and Lindsay. I sit across from Samuel and as it gets to the part about our vulnerabilities. I look at the ground and someone kicks me in the foot. I look up and at Samuel. He winks and I half smile. They show mine first and everybody stays silent. I feel eyes on me and a hand reaches across the bottom of my thigh and grabs my hand. I look up and at Samuel. He nods and I shake my head. I look up at the screen with glazed over eyes and when they move on to Matheus I grab my phone.

TO: Samuel.  
><em>I Can't Do This.<em>

I say and his bleeps. He texts me back and I look at it.

FROM: Samuel  
><em>Course You Can. I'm Here.<em>

I half smile and text him back.

TO: Samuel.  
><em>This Time, I Don't Think That's Enough.<em>

I say and let go of his hand. It cuts to a break after Damian's and I stand up and walk off. I walk off and people keep saying how proud they are of me. I weave my way through the crowd of people. (People have crashed the little showing party) and I feel someone grab me. I turn around and look at Sam. I take his hand off me and shrug. "It's too much Sam." I say and he shakes his head. "I'm here." I nod. "I know." I say and keep walking. Somebody grabs my hand as I turn back around. "I'm here." He says again and looks back at the screen. "It's starting again." He says and we walk back around. We walk back around and sit down. We watch Lindsay and Samuel's confessions and we all look upset. I put my hand on Lindsay's shoulders and she rests her head on mine. When it gets to the video I sit up and watch it. Samuel's part actually makes me want to cry even more. It is a really amazing video.

When the episode ends we all half smile and Damian's and my parents get up and stand in front of the screen.

"I think we can all agree that that was an amazing video. And that we are all supporting all of you..." She says and we smile.

When they finish talking we start walking around and I walk over to my grandparents. I hug them and sit talking. I get up and look for them. I see them sitting with two others so I walk over and wave. "Hey." I say and look at who they are sitting with. "Hey." Samuel says with a smile and I look at the other two. "I'm actually going to go and-" I say but get interrupted. "It's ok Nicola." I look back over and then at Lindsay. "I never caught your names." Samuel says and I half laugh. "This is Daniel, and this is Karla." I say and their mouths drop. "Hey cuz!" She says and I roll my eyes. "Yeah, so who wants a glass of wine?" I ask and Lindsay nods. "Beer?" I ask Samuel and he nods. "yeah, thanks." and Damian nods too. I get up with Lindsay and Karla walks with us. "I hope things aren't awkward." Karla says and I nod. "Why would it be? It's just here cousin and her ex-boyfriend dating." Lindsay says while pouring herself a glass of wine and passing the bottle to me. "Yeah, I mean, there is better guys out there." I say and she shrugs. "Oh, and better friends too." I add in and give a beer to Lindsay for Damian and grab one for Samuel. We walk back over and I pass the beer to Samuel.

"Thanks." I smile and sip on my wine. "Hey Bitch." I hear a voice say and spin around and see all the old crew. "Wow. looks like someone woke the undead." Lindsay says and I loook at her. "Behave." I say and nod. "Hey." I say and they just give me dirty looks. "Daniel, call off the cavlry." I say and Samuel raises his eyebrows. "This is the people you used to hang out with?" He asks and I nod.l "That was a hell of a long time ago." Rachel says and I nod. "Damn straight." I say with a smile. "Well thank god Robert and Nikki picked you." he says and takes a drink of beer. They smile. "we're going moshing tonight, you're free to join us." I nod. "Yeah, i'll think i'll do without." I say and take another sip of wine. "You think you're better than us because you have these new friends from LA and you're sitting drinking wine?" One of them shouts and I laugh. I stand up. "When's the last time you talked to Ciara?" Another shouts and I nod. "I'm going to see her on Wednesday." I say and smile. "I might have friends from LA, but i'm still me." I say with a smile and they look at me. "Then why haven't you got your septum or nose studs in? Or your lip piercings?" One asks. "Or your continous band t-shirts. And what about the semi-permanent black hair dye?" I smile. "It's all just a mask. It means nothing. We're just covering everything up."

I say and they nod. "When you're done playing Disney, you know where we are." They say with a sigh and walk away. "You're still the leader of the pack?" I ask and he nods. "Yep." He says with a smile. "I thought you were gonna quit?" He shrugs. "Hard to quit when you have a broken heart." He says and I get up, I spot Mrs O'Driscoll and walk over to her.

"Hey." I say and she smiles. "Hello Nicola." I smile awkwardly and she nods. "Can I, come over on thursday? I'm ready." She nods. "Of course." She smiles and Samuel walks over. "Hey." I smile. "Hi." I say back and he nods over at Daniel and Karla. "They want to talk to you." I shrug. "I don't want to talk to them." I say back and go to walk away. "They want another chance." I laugh. "Sam, if your ex-girlfriend came into your life right now, would you give her another chance?" He nods. "Fair point." I nod and grab a beer. I unscrew the lid and he nods. "You wanna dance?" He asks and I shrug. "Why not?" I say and smile. I take a gulp of beer and we walk into the middle of the grass and dance.

* * *

><p>We get changed for bed and I say goodnight to everyone. Lindsay gets in beside me and we go to sleep.<p>

* * *

><p>We wake up and get breakfast. "What's the plan today kids?" Mum asks and we shrug and Samuel gets a text. "Mmhm." He says and looks at us. "We are going on some show tonight- The One Show?" I nod. "Yeah." I say and finish my toast. "What time do we go on?" Damian asks and Samuel reads out the text.<p>

_"Hey kids, hope you all arrived home safe and are enjoying yourselves. You are going on The One Show tonight at 7pm, live, so you have to be at the studio for 6pm. You will be performing 'Like A Prayer' By Madonna. We are leaving this in your hands. Don't screw it up. Robert." _

We nod. "This is one of the most known songs glee has done!" Lindsay says and I nod. "Yeah. We can NOT screw this up!" I say and we go on to our phones and find the words. "Ok guys, lets get to work." Damian says and we sit down with paper and start writing out parts for us all to learn.

* * *

><p>When we get it all sorted, we turn on the TV to the news.<p>

_Last night, The Glee Project hopefuls; Damian McGinty Jr. And Nicola McDowney came back to Nicola's hometown along with Samuel Larsen and Lindsay Pearce, two others of the final 9 who all hope to win a part on the worldwide phenomenon that is Glee. See all four of them tonight on The One Show, Live at 7pm._

I laugh and we go into the sitting room to practice.


	59. Chapter 59

We get to the studio and they send us straight into hair and makeup. I take pictures with Lindsay and send them all to twitter.

"Ok guys, in 5." We nod and hear our names being announced.

We walk out together and sit down. "Welcome to the show." Christine says and we smile. "Well, thanks for having us." I say and smile.

"So, you guys have made it into the final 9. How much do you want this, now that you have overcame so much?" Adrian asks and Samuel leans forward. "I think, getting past 40,000 people was crazy, so getting this far within the competition is really, mind blowing." He says and smiles.

"And you two, it is great to have you back!" We laugh. "Well, it's good to be back on home soil, it's weird being out in some weird country with these weird people." He says and points at Lindsay and Samuel. They lean forward and hit him. I laugh and nod.

"I think, what Damian was trying to say was, it's scary. Being out in a different country, being thrown in a house with 11 others who all want to be on Glee." I say and she nods.

"And what do you both think of Ireland?" She asks and Lindsay sits up. "Well, we haven't seen much of it yet, but we had a viewing party yesterday for the third episode and got to meet friends, family and fans who were so sweet." She says and we smile.

"Aww, so you're staying with Nicola's parents?" We nod. "We're staying with Nicola's family for five days and Damian's for five days." Lindsay says.

"What's that like?" Damian smiles. "Great, her parents are so nice and they like a wee bit of craic, so its good." Lindsay and Samuel go wide eyed. "Craic as in a good time, my parents aren't on drugs!" I say and they laugh.

"So, you guys are enjoying yourselves?" We nod. "Yeah, I mean, I gotta jam with her dad last night. It's awesome." Samuel says with a smile.

"We have some questions from the audience." Christine says and we look over. "Lindsay, on the show you have been portrayed as the shows villain, are you really as mean as you seem to be on the show?" Lindsay's mouth almost drops. "Ehm, I don't think I am." She says and looks at me.

"I think, that on TV we are all shown in a certain way, and you only see snippets of us and the way we are. Lindsay is NOT a villain she is a really sweet person and I care about her- alot. We all care about each other. We're doing this together, it's our journey, nobody knows us better than the people we share a house with." I say with a smile.

"Samuel- you've already met Nicola's parents, has she met yours?" He nods. "Yeah, and they love her. She came to see my aunt at the hospital and they met her there, they love her." He says again and I laugh. "And what do your parents think of him?" The girl asks again and I nod. "They think he's a good kid." I say with a smile and we answer some more questions.

"How is the competition going?" Christine asks us again and we nod. "Good. It's getting gradually harder, and it's stressful, but it is alot of fun." Damian says and we nod. "Could we be looking at the final 4?" We look at each other and laugh. "I think you're definately looking at three of the final four." I say with a nod and she looks at me. "You don't think you'll be part of the final four?" She asks and I shrug.

"These three are amazing singers and actors. We've lost Bryce, MyKynleigh and Emily, who were all amazing, and I guess it's just about what kind of a week we're having. If we have a good week, we'll do well, if it's a bad one, it could end the competition for us." I say and the other three nod. "We have all got so far already, every week we get through it's like we've won. When they decided they want to see you again, it's the best feeling ever." Damian says with a smile.

"You two have been in the bottom three, so you've both met Ryan Murphy." We nod. "It is scary, and we were both up against each other on the first week, so I was thinking, ok, so he has decided he only wants one irish kid in the competition, and Damian is this really cool guy and Bryce is really funny and then you have me, so I was like, i'm so going to lose in the personality contest." I say and they laugh. "For me it was kind of the same, Bryce and Nicola, along with everyone else have really unique voices, and I just thought well I sound like every other boy in Ireland, so this is the end for me." He says and I look up. "But seeing that Bryce wasn't called back, was horrible." I add in and we nod.

"Do you two feel a bit stronger than them, because you haven't faced Ryan yet?" Adrian asks and Samuel shakes his head. "Not at all!" Lindsay says and Samuel nods. "I think, we're all on the same level, even though we all have different styles and tastes, we're all as good as each other." He adds in and smiles at me. "What do you mean different styles and tastes?" We nod.

"Well, y'know, you have Damian, who is into pop, irish and swing music. You have Lindsay who is really into broadway and classic. You have me who loves metal, classic and modern rock. And you have Samuel, who loves rock, indie and pop, so we're all really diverse with our music tastes." I say and Christine nods at me.

"So, do you think that you would all be friends if you were all from the same place and walked by each other in the street?" She asks and we shake our heads. "I'd love to say yes, but I really don't think so. Like, I walk down the streets singing show tunes to myself, Samuel walks down the street in vest tops with his tattoos showing and probably his guitar on his back. Damian walks down the street half skipping and in his own world. And Nicola walks down the street, wearing zombies, dark make up and with her earphones in. We're too different." Lindsay says and Damian nods.

"Yeah, like, I think everybody that does these kind of shows is all like, yeah, if we were all from the same place we'd be best friends anyway, but we wouldn't. And that is the beauty of Glee and The Glee Project, it brings completely different people together and puts them in unlikely situations." He says and we half laugh.

"I know, you guys are going to perform for us in a minute, but I just want to ask about your futures, beyond the show." We nod. "Do you still think you'll be friends? Where do you see yourselves?" We all lean forward a little and smile. "Well we will definitely still be friends." Samuel says with a smile. "I'm not letting any of them go." He adds in and smiles at me. "I see myself in America, no idea where, or who with, but I know i'll still be there in a couple of years." I say and Lindsay nods. "Definitely, I might move out to LA but still try out for Broadway with every chance I get." She says and Damian nods. "I have to be in America. We need to be there Nicola, It's alot more fast paced and everybody knows everyone, a bit like here, but it's crazy, and the weather. Oh the weather!" He says and laughs. They smile and sit up.

"Well, it was great talking to you and I think the stage is set up, if you would like to take your places." We nod and stand up.

"Lindsay Pearce, Damian McGinty. Nicola McDowney and Samuel Larsen, four contestants of The Glee Project, Class Of Season 1, closing tonights show with 'Like A Prayer' By Madonna." We nod and the music starts. I take my place between Samuel and Damian and hold my stomach. "Life is a mystery...


	60. Chapter 60

When we get home we are still riding the high from the show. I can't stop laughing and I get a text.

"Skype at 10pm."

It says and I nod. "I just got a text from Hannah, saying to Skype at 10." They nod and I turn on my computer. I walk back into the kitchen to see Samuel talking to my Grandadm they're both smiling and talking. _Not like Grandad, he doesn't really like new people, especially people that look like Samuel._ He thinks guys with long hair are _stupid_.

I sit with Lindsay and she looks at the clock on the wall. "We better go sign in." Damian says and I nod, they walk down my room and I walk over to Sam and Grandad. "Hey, sorry grandad, but can I borrow Samuel?" I say while putting my hand on Sam's shoulder, Sam looks at my hand and smiles. "Go on ahead." Grandad says and we walk down to my room.

"Your grandad's a cool guy." He says while sitting down. I click on Skype and while it loads he sits me on his knee. "He doesn't like strangers, so i'm shocked he's even looking in your direction." I say and he laughs. It loads and we see the five other contestants pop up along with Robert Ulrich in seperate boxes. "Hey!" We say and laugh. "Hello Contestants." Robert says and Zach comes into shot with him. "Hey Zach!" We say and smile. "As most of you know, well those of you in America anyway, the crazyness for a new episode and the anticipation of the show is wild. So, we have decided to give them all a taster for the next episode." We nod.

"Ok." We say and half laugh. "The next episodes theme is _'Danceability'_ we all smile and nod. "You will all be sent videos tonight of the dances you all have to learn." Zach says and smiles. "And of the dance you will have to teach everyone you can get for flash mobs." We all go wide eyed. "WHAT?" Hannah asks and we laugh. "You have to make it look like you're all just randomly breaking out into song and dance." We nod at Zach.

"Your song will be '_You Can't Stop The Beat_' from the hit musical _Hairspray_" We nod and look at each other. "The videos are being sent now. Good luck Contestants, and enjoy your break." We nod and the Skype shuts down. I feel Sam's hand on my waist and smile. "I'm going to go get changed for bed." Damian says and Lindsay nods, "yeah, i'll get my pyjama's and go get changed in the bathroom." We nod and I play with Samuel's hand. "Come on, I need to get changed." He nods. "Fine." He says and half laughs. We get up and I have to half-push him out of my room.

"Wait, you've seen me in my underwear, don't I get to see you in yours?" He asks and I hit him in the chest. "NO!" I say and he half laughs. I get changed and put on my pyjamas. I tie my hair back and walk back into the kitchen and sit beside my grandad.

"That guy, he's very different." He says to me and I nod. "Yeah, he is" I say and he nods. "He's a great guy though. Very modest, very complimentry." I look at him. "What did he compliment you on?" I ask and he smiles. "The amazing grandaughter I have and her amazing singing." I blush. "Hmphm. He's also likes to joke." I say and he smiles. "He was serious." He says and I smile. "He is an amazing person." I say with a smile. "They're all amazing people." I say and a text comes through to my phone. "DANCE FOR YCSTB VIDEO." I nod and put it back in my pocket. "Did you get the text?" Damian asks while walking back in. "Yep, we will practice tomorrow." He nods and Samuel walks up with Lindsay. "Hey." They say and I smile. "So, are any of the kids in the house dating?" Mum asks them and they laugh. "MyKynleigh and Bryce might be, but we haven't been talking to them." Damian says and she nods. "What about you four? Any of you kids dating?" We shake our heads. "Nope." We say and smile. "Well I think we better head home." Granny says and Grandad gets up. "See you soon." They say and hug and kiss me. "Night." I say and when they leave we all sit at the table with mum and dad.

"So, what's your plans for tomorrow?" We shrug. "We have to practice for a video and then I'm going to visit Ciara tomorrow night." They nod. "Long day ahead." I say and they nod. "I'm going to go to bed, i'll see you in the morning." I say and get back up to kiss mum and dad on the cheek.

"What about the rest of us?" Lindsay asks and they all look at me. I sigh and go over to her and kiss her on the cheek. Damian looks at me with fluttering eyelashes and I laugh and kiss his cheek too. I make my way around to Samuel and he is talking do dad. I grab his face with my hand and turn his cheek to face me. I kiss his cheek and let go of him. "Night guys." I say and they say the same back while I walk down the room.

* * *

><p>I get into bed and close my eyes.<p>

I hear a knock and immediately open them again. Sam. "Hey." I whisper and he smiles. He sits in front of me on my bed and has a massive grin on his face. I sit up and he moves towards me. He puts his hand on the side of my face and brings me towards him. He looks at my lips, then into my eyes before closing his own. I close my eyes and he brushes his lips against mine.

I open my eyes and sit up. "_WHAT THE HELL?_" I say out loud as Lindsay walks in. "Are you ok?" She asks and I nod and look around me- _no-one_, no _Sam_, no nobody. "Yeah, I just had a weird dream." I say and swallow hard. She nods and half giggles. "Ok, well I'm going to bed, so scooch over." I nod and move over to let her in. I take one final look around my room before turning off the light. What a weird god damn dream.

* * *

><p>After 5 hours of practising we drop ourselves down on the sofa in my living room and puff in exhaustian. "Well, I think we got that down." Damian says and laughs. "Yeah, now just to teach it to a crowd of people." I say and sigh. "We can do it at school!" Damian says and I look at him. "What?" He smiles. "At your school!" He says and they look at us and nod. "Good idea." Lindsay says and Samuel nods. "Yeah." he says and smiles. I get up and go to the shower.<p>

* * *

><p>I wrap myself in a towel and walk back into my room. The three of them raise their eyebrows and I almost drop my towel. "What is it?" I ask and they half smile. "We've been invited to a party, all of us, on friday." I nod. "Ok." I say and look myself up and down. "Can you guys leave me alone to get changed?" They laugh and get up. I put on my jeans and a grey t-shirt along with a brown cardigan. I put on my biker boots and dry my hair. I put on some foundation and lip gloss and walk into the kitchen.<p>

"You look... different." Lindsay says and I half smile. "I'm going to go visit Ciara." I say and grab my car keys. "Sam?" I ask and he looks up at me. "Come with me?" I ask while looking down and he nods. "Sure." He says and half smiles. "I'll see you later." I say and they all nod. We get in the car and he puts his seat belt on. "You can go and do whatever you want whenever I go in, I just can't drive the whole way there and the whole way back by myself." He nods and smiles. "I get it." He says and sits back in the seat. "So, why is she-" He starts and I nod.

"Don't judge me." I say as I start the ignition. "Ok." He says and looks worried.


	61. Chapter 61

"Well, we used to hang about with those kids." I say and focus on the road. "And we used to go out all the time. We used to go out moshing together. There was a time when I was really depressed." I look at him and he nods.

"We kind of, tried self-harming."

I say when we reach traffic and his eyes go dark and he looks sad. "I only did it once. It hurt too much, so I didn't do it ever again."

He nods and looks at my wrists.

"I did it to my shoulder."

I say and keep my eyes on the road. "It was a huge mistake. Nobody knows I did it, except you and her." He nods. "She did it too. But she couldn't stop. She did it to her wrists, over and over, everytime I saw her she had new cuts on her wrists. It got worse and once I walked in when she made a really deep cut, she had to have it stitched up. Her family decided she needed professional help so we had a meeting and she agreed, they let me drive her to the hospital because I was going to the airport.

On the drive there, she begged me not to take her there, she asked me to take her with me to America. I left her there and i've felt so bad since." He keeps his eyes on the floor and I look down.

"Please don't judge me." I say again and a tear rolls down my cheek. I look up at the road and we continue driving in silence. He slides his hand on to mine on the steering wheel and I look at him. "I don't judge you." He says and I try not to burst out crying. We pull up at the rehab centre and he looks at me. I take out the keys and hand them to him. "Just don't crash my car." I say and get out. I fold my arms and start to walk accross the cold car park. I hear running behind me and he walks up to me. "I don't judge you" He says again and hugs me. "I'll see you after." He says with half a smile and I walk into the main office.

I sign in and a doctor brings me to her room. They leave us alone and I look at her. "Ciara." I say before clearing my throat. She looks up at me from her bed. "Hi." She says and continues staring at the ceiling. I look at her wrists, scars, nothing but scars. At least there is only scars. "I'm sorry I left you here." I say and a tear rolls down my cheek. "Don't be. I'm getting the help I need. You did me a favour." I half smile and she points at the TV. "I've been watching you." I half laugh.

"Yeah, because that doesn't sound creepy at all." She starts laughing. "They don't let me listen to rock music." I nod. "That sucks." I say and she nods. "Yeah." She says and scrunches up her mouth. "They'll let me listen to it in 6 weeks. I'm in some weird process where I have to cleanse myself of everything." I nod. "You saved me Nikki." She gets up and hugs me. "Tell me everything." She says and I smile and start telling her everything.

...

"...And then I had that dream." She laughs. "Well, I think you have a crush on him." I laugh. "Not Samuel." I say and she nods. "I have seen your interviews and the show." I half smile. "I don't like him like that." I say and she nods. "So, where is he now?" I shrug. "I gave him my car keys before I came in." She nods. "So he came with you to see me?" I nod. "Yeah." She half smiles. "Does he know about Mrs O'Driscoll? About Karla and Daniel?" I half nod. "He knows half of the story about Karla and Daniel, but he doesn't know anything about Mrs O'Driscoll." She nods. "I'm going to see them tomorrow." She looks up. "Mrs O'Driscoll?" I nod. "Yeah." She nods. "It's going to be ok." I smile. "And the same with you." I say and she half laughs. "I'm doing better." I nod. "Good." I say. "Ciara, your dinner is ready." I hug her and get up. "I'll talk to you soon." I say and she hugs me again. "Goodbye and Good luck." She says and I smile. "You too." I say with a wink and walk outside. I take out my phone and ring Samuel.

"Hey." I say and sit on a bench underneath a street light. "Hi, you ok?" He asks and I smile. "Yeah, she's away for her dinner." I hear him start the ignition. "Ok, I'll come get you now." I nod. "Thanks." I say before hanging up. I put my feet up and rub my hand over the scar on my shoulder. I see the headlights of my car and Samuel pulls up in front of me. He sticks his head out the window and smiles. I get up and get in beside him. "Well, you didn't crash my car, so you're doing something right." I say and he laughs. "Good to see you too." He says mockingly and starts driving. "Where are we going?" I ask and he shrugs. "For a drive." I nod and sit back. "So, hows it going with Ciara?" I smile. "Alot better." He nods. "Good, I'm glad." I smile and rest my head on his shoulder while he drives. He rubs my neck and I almost fall asleep. We park up on the top of a hill and I smile and turn around to him.

"I'm sorry I have so much history." I say and he laughs. "Not your fault." I smile. "Most of it is." I say and laugh. "I'm sorry I don't have enough history." I laugh. "It's better to have no baggage, than being a million times over your allocated limit." He smiles and sits rubbing my neck with his hand. My stomach rumbles and he laughs. "We need to get some food in your stomach." He says with a smile and starts driving.

"So how does it feel to drive on the right side of the road?" I ask and he laughs. "On the wrong side? fine." He says and winks. He turns on the radio and starts pulling at the little knob. "Does this thing work?" He asks and I nod. "Yeah, you're just doing it wrong." I say and put my hand on his. "You gotta go easy on it." I say and help him turn it round. "There." I say as Adele's _Rolling In The Deep_ starts playing.

We both start singing at the top of our lungs, very badly and both burst out laughing. We get to a diner and get out. We see a massive The Glee Project Poster and take pictures of ourselves beside it and post them to twitter. We walk in and slide into a booth.

"So what did you do when I was with Ciara?" I ask and he shrugs. "I went to a couple of shops, nothing major." I nod and he sits twiddling his thumbs. "What's on your mind?" I ask and he shrugs. "Nothing." I nod. "Now tell me the truth." I say and he sighs. "Damian likes Lindsay." I nod. "I know." He smiles. "He doesn't want to say to her, because he doesn't know how she feels and he's worried she'll think it's just for publicity, or that it's just because everybody else is a fangirl." I smile. "I think she likes him to." He smiles. "I guess we're going to have to wait for the hurricane Toto." I nod. "Me too Pink Shorts." I say and play with his bracelet on my wrist. "What's on your mind?" He asks and I smile.

"Our gang used to have this motto: Good Luck & Good Bye." He nods. "It was, if you were going to commit suicide, or try to." His eyes go wide. "She reminds you of the gang?" I nod. "Do you want to be part of it again?" I shake my head. "Nope, I hate who I was then." He nods. "I'm worried she'll go back to them when she leaves." He nods. "She'll see sense." He says and grabs my fidgeting hand. I smile and his dark eyes go warm. The waitress comes over and takes our order.

"Can I get two barbecue ribs." I say and Samuel looks at me. "You ordered for me?" I nod. "Yeah." I say with a smile and she walks away. "Ok." He says and I laugh. "So, what is the plans for tomorrow?" I nod. "Well, my school has assembly every Wednesday morning, so, we'll go in and sit at the back. My principal will shout as you for wearing a hat, you'll take it off and we will go up on the stage, tell them what is going on and hopefully start a flash mob." He smiles. "Good idea." I laugh and he lets go of my hand when our plates are set down. "So where is Damian and Lindsay now?" He shrugs. "They were at Laura's last time I checked in." I nod and his eyes light up when he looks at his plate. "Wow." he says and I smile.

* * *

><p>The cheque comes and I grab it. "Nuh-uh. I am buying dinner." I laugh. "I think you'll find, I am." He shakes his head. "I am." He snatches the reciept from me and takes out his wallet. "You have pounds?" He taps his stomach. "You don't need to be mean!" I laugh. "I mean the money in your hand." He looks at it and laughs. "Yeah." He pays for it and we walk back out to my car. "It's getting dark, i'll drive." I say with a smile and he nods. "Sure." I get in the drivers side and start the ignition.<p>

We sit in silence for a few minutes and he turns to me in his seat. "So, who do you want to leave next?" I look at him. "What?" He smiles. "The show, who do you want out of the house?" I hit his arm. "You shouldn't talk like that." He scrunches his eyebrows. "Karma's a bitch." I say with a smile and he laughs. "I want Alex out." I nod at him. "He is an amazing singer, and he can hit the high notes, but he thinks he is so much better than the rest of us. I know he is better than me, but he has these stupid competitions in the guys dorm at night, him and Matheus sit trying to see who can hit the highest notes." I nod.

"What do you girls do?" He asks and I smile. "Well, we usually walk around in our underwear and have pillowfights." I say and his eyes almost pop out of his head. "Don't be so mean." I laugh. "We just go to sleep, which sucks. I know there isn't as much tension because there is only 4 girls now, but 3 of them want to be well rested." He nods. "And you're not one of them?" I shrug. "I like chilling out and talking or even just playing a game of air hockey or something, even if we could jam together, anything." He nods. "That would be so cool. We all sit and talk-" I interupt him. "What about?" He shrugs. "Guy stuff." I nod. "Like what?" He smiles. "Nosey!" I nod. "You still aren't answering my question." He laughs. "You lot." I nod. "That doesn't make us self conscious at all." He giggles. "What do you talk about, when you talk about us?" He looks at me with a straight face. "Well, Matheus imagines you all in your underwear." I nod. "I didn't need to know that." He laughs as I pull up and I smile. "You know what Sam? For what was going to be a really depressing evening, I had fun." I say and he smiles. "Me too." I open the door but he taps my shoulder. "That thing about us talking about you girls, nobody needs to know." I nod. "My lips are sealed." I say and he nods.

* * *

><p>We get out and I walk into my house, he sits with my dad and I take out the adoption papers. I look over them one last time and walk into the sitting room with them. "Dad." I say and Samuel looks at me. "Yeah?" He asks and I half smile and walk towards him. "I know I call you Dad, and you treat me like your own, and I love you and I want to make things official." I manage to get out and he looks at me. "I want to legally be your daughter." He smiles and gets up to hug me. I hug him and hand him the papers. "Please read these." I say and he smiles and sits back down. "If I sign these will it all be legal?" I nod and so does he. He opens the back of it and signs everywhere that I have marked for him. "There you go." He says with a smile and nods. "Now go and do something with your childhood." I smile and Samuel gets up. "Movie and popcorn?" I ask and he smiles. "Sounds great." He says back and I walk into my room to get changed and he knocks the door while I put my hair up in a bun. "I'll go get the popcorn." I say and he shrugs. "I will." I nod and put in a movie. He walks back in and I jump up onto my bed. "Well come on then." I say and tap the bed beside me. He smiles and sits up beside me. We open the pop corn and I take a handful. His sits tweeting and when he is finished I hit play.<p> 


	62. Chapter 62

I wake up and look at the figure facing me._ It's not Lindsay._

"Morning." He whispers and I smile. "Morning." I say back and notice his hand is on my hip. I half smile and he notices his hand on my hip and takes it off. I get up and yawn. "Lindsay must've slept beside Damian." I say and he nods. "Or with him." I walk over and hit him. "Shut up!" I say and he smiles. "Come on, we have to be at my high school in twenty minutes." He nods. "Ok." He reaches out and I pull him out of bed. He gets up and looks at himself in the mirror. "What should I wear?" I shrug. "Whatever you can get that will go with this." I say and throw him a hat. He smiles. "Nice call." I nod and he walks out to go get changed. Lindsay walks in half yawning and looks at herself in the mirror. "bleh." She says and I laugh. "So, nice night with Damian?" She smiles. "And yours with Samuel?" I nod. "It was fun." She smiles and I grab a t-shirt along with a pair of jeans and put on some foundation. "I'm bringing my make up with me, i'll do it before the video." She nods. "The camera's are on there way to the school, we are borrowing a local tv stations and the footage is being emailed to Robert later." I nod. "Now, just to get breakfast and go." I say and high five her.

We walk into the kitchen and Karla comes in just as the boys walk up to us. "Hey hottie." She says to Samuel and he nods. "Morning Karla." He says and sits down beside Damian. "Oooh we have that chocolate chip cereal!" I say and mum laughs. "You want to eat that? It's full of fat and sugar." Karla says to me and I nod. "Yeah, what was I thinking?" I say and grab an apple. I sit at the table and they all look at me horrified. "What?" I ask and go to take a bite from my apple. Samuel slaps it out of my hand and onto the floor. "What the hell?" I ask and Damian sets a bowl of cereal in front of me. "Eat it." I look at it and shake my head. "No thanks." I say and Karla smiles. I get up to grab another Apple but Samuel grabs my hand. "If you touch that bowl of apples so help me god I will ring Skip. Do you want me to go there?" I laugh and nod. "Fine!" I say and sit down. I lift a spoonful and look at it. I eat it and smile. "Fine, but you're the one who's going to look fat on camera." She says and Samuel gives her a dirty look. "Somebodies jealous." Lindsay says and when we finish breakfast I walk past Karla. "Bite me bitch." I say and keep walking.

I grab the Imancipation papers from my room and shove them in my handbag. "You ready to go?" Damian shouts and I nod. "Yeah, coming now!" I say back and walk back to the kitchen. "Ok, lets go guys." I say with a smile and grab my car keys. "You guys away to-" I stop mum. "Yep, we'll be home soon." I say and we get in my car. I put on my seatbelt and Samuel puts on the hat. "You guys ready?" I ask with a smile. "YEAH!" I nod. "Then lets go!" I shout and start the ignition while turning up the radio.

I drive in and half smile. "Ok guys, lets go." I say and we get out and sneak into the back of the hall. We sit down and Headmistress Jackson notices us straight away. "What time do you call this? And you did not even come to school in uniform?" She shouts and I look at the three of them, the entire school turns around to look at us.


	63. Chapter 63

We walk up with our heads down and then look up at her and smile. We walk on to the stage and I look at the staring faces and almost throw up. Samuel takes off his hat and I grab the mic. "So, we're not the best at disguises." I say and smile. "But we've came here today, because, well, we need your help." I say and hand the mic to Damian. "We have been given the task to film parts here for a video, because the fans, they just can't get enough of me." He says and Lindsay grabs the mic from him. "Basically, we have 6 hours to film footage that is only going to be used for about 10 seconds of the entire video, you get a day out of school and get to hang with us." We nod. Samuel takes the mic and smiles. "So, you guys in?" He asks and the entire place goes up in roars of cheer.

"I guess that's a yes?" I ask with a smile and we look at Headmistress Jackson. "Sorry for taking over your school, Miss." I say and she laughs.

After 3 hours of practice, we take a break for lunch and I show them all around my school. "And this, is our choir room." I say and open a door to the medium sized- grey choir room. Samuel sits at the piano and I walk over to the wall with photos of our past glee choirs. "Why are you only in three of these?" Lindsay asks and I smile. "Because, after three years, our Glee club decided that we should be prettier, so they decided to bring in all the pretty girls, so I decided to leave." I say and point to a picture. "How could I compete with them?" I ask and Samuel walks over. "You are way prettier than her." Samuel says and points to one of the girls. We all look at him and his cheeks tinge pink. "So, where can we eat lunch?" I shrug. "The cafeteria?" Lindsay asks and I nod. "Yeah." We walk out and into the cafeteria. We get our food and sit down.

"This place is kind of cool." Lindsay says and I smile. "It's not to bad, when you get used to it." I say and finish eating. Lindsay stands up on the table and smiles. "EVERYONE TO CLASS. NOW!" She shouts and sits back down. "I always wanted to do that." We burst out laughing and everyone goes to class. We walk out into the corridor when it clears and Samuel, Lindsay and Damian walk into seperate classrooms. The music starts and I walk down the corridor with a school bag on my back. I smile and drop my bag outside a classroom. I walk in to one and get everyone to follow me, then the same with Damian's and Lindsay's classes. I walk into Samuel's class and everyone runs out. I walk up to him and grab his hand. We run out and into the hall. We run up and the four of us stand at the front of the mob and dance. We run off in different directions and I run around my school. I stand up on the main stage and someone hands me a note. I turn on the microphone when a camera races in. "And The Next Theme Is..." I say and open the note. "DANCE ABILITY!" Lindsay, Samuel and Damian shout from behind me. I look down at the crowd of kids and a camera man gives me the thumbs up. "Guys, thats a wrap!" I shout and we all cheer. We all hug and sign autographs.

We watch over the footage and smile. The school bell goes and they all leave. We walk about the empty school. We take pictures and I walk into the cloakroom where I used to sit with my friends. I lean against the wall and run my hand along the cold bench. I feel the engraving we made with a key and get up to look;

"Let's not give up on tomorrow. It's a brand new day. Today's a day we'll never get back. Lets live it like it's our last day on earth. G&G. "

I smile and they walk in and look at me. "What's up?" I shrug and Samuel kneels down beside me. He reads it out and smiles. "Who's G & G?" He asks and I half smile. "Goodbye & Goodluck." He nods. I get up and look at them. "Let's go for a drive." I say and Samuel puts his arm around my shoulder. We walk out and get into my car. Rolling In The Deep comes on and we all sing it badly. I laugh and keep driving. We go over a hill and down a lane. We keep going and singing along to the radio. After an hour we park up and sit outside. Samuel grabs his guitar from the back of the car and I sit on a rock. He sits tuning his guitar and starts playing random things. Damian starts carving something on a rock and Lindsay sits texting. I watch Samuel and then get up. They all look up at me and I smile. "In 6 weeks or less, we aren't going to be together anymore. We aren't going to send every moment of every day together. I think we're all getting too close." I say and get up. I get in the car and look ahead of me.


	64. Chapter 64

There I Go, Pushing People Away Again.

I tweet and look over at the three of them talking. I turn on Black Veil Brides and search through my bag. I go to lift my phone but end up grabbing the imancipation papers. I have to go there tonight. I grab my phone and bite my lip and ring Mrs O'Driscoll.

She answers and I clear my throat.

"Nicola?" She asks and I nod. "Yeah, it's me." I say and breathe. "Are you still coming tonight." I half smile. "Yeah, of course, I um- I need to see him." I say and hear her cough. "Are you sure?" I look out at them and nod. "100%" I say and look at the papers. "Ok, i'll see you at 7pm." I nod. "See you then." I say and hang up. I open the door and they look up at me. I shake my head and walk off. I walk into the forest and keep going. I get to the old campsite and see two tents. I sit in one and laugh at myself. I hear footsteps and stay quiet. "I know you're in there." I hear Samuel say and she his shadow. He sits down and I half laugh. "You're going to get your jeans dirty." I say to him and hear him clear his throat. "Why are you trying to push us away?" He asks and I shrug. "We're all getting so close, and then all of a sudden it's going to be over." I say and he sighs. "We're not going to leave you." I laugh. "That's what happens on reality shows. You get close with people, and then within months you ignore each other and never talk again." I say and here him scuffle on the ground. He unzips the tent and looks at me. "Can I come in?" He asks and I shrug. "You've dug the hole, you might as well bury yourself in it." I say and he gets in beside me. He looks at me and I look down. He looks at his bracelet on my wrist. "If I was going to ignore you in a few weeks, would you have that on your wrist." He asks and I look at it. I go to take it off and he grabs my wrist. "Don't." He says and looks me in the eye.

"Stop pushing us away." I nod and he wraps an arm around me. "I've seen you laugh, i've seen you cry, i'm not going to just give up on you." He says and kisses my hair. I put my hand on his chest and laugh at myself. "I don't want to push you away." I whisper and he leans his head on mine. "Then why are you?" I shrug. "Because I don't want to depend on you guys either." He turns me around and looks at me.

"Maybe I want you to depend on me." He says and I half smile. He kisses my cheek and We crawl out. It's dark and I look at him- all I can see is his outline. He reaches out and touches my shoulder. He runs his hand down my arm and grabs my hand. We start walking and keep our fee hands in front of us to stop us from banging into any trees. I see a light and pull him towards it- my car. We see Lindsay and Damian and our mobiles start beeping. "53 Missed Calls: Lindsay." I say and nods. "57 Missed Calls: Damian." He says back and we get into the front seats. "What the hell?" Damian asks and we look at them. "We didn't have any reception." Samuel says and they nod.

I start the car and start driving to Mrs O'Driscoll's. "Where are we going?" Samuel asks and we pull up. "This is my dad's house." I say and they all look at me and I take the papers from my pocket. "And in about twenty minutes, i'm not going to be his daughter anymore."


	65. Chapter 65

"Please just stay here." They nod and I half smile. I look back at each of them and open my door. I close it and walk towards the house. I knock the door and Mrs O'Driscoll answers. "Your just in time, he's leaving in 5 minutes." I nod and we walk into the kitchen. I lift my eyes from the wooden floor and look him in the eye. I swear my heart just split in two.

"Nicola." I nod at him and pass the papers over. "I need you to sign these." I whisper. He nods. He scribbles his name down and passes them back. I look at Mrs O'Driscoll and she nods. "I don't want you to ever get in contact with me, ever." He nods and walks out. He opens the door and I look at him. "Bye, Daddy." I say and blink back tears. He walks out and Mrs O'Driscoll hugs me.

I half smile and she points to the stairs. I nod and walk up. I knock on the door and hear footsteps. "WHAT DO YOU W-Nicola McDowney?" I nod. "Yeah." I say and she Looks at me. "Why are you h-" I stop her and see the picture in her room. I walk past her and hold it up. "So you know?" I ask and she shrugs then realises. "Yeah." I say and she half smiles-half nods. She hugs me and we sit talking.

"So what's the show like?" I smile. "Good. Really tiring. Amazing people. Really amazing people." She half smiles and I look at her t-shirt. "BLACK VEIL BRIDES?" I ask and she half smiles. "Yeah, I seen this girl on this american show who lives down the road from me and she was talking about them." I half smile. "What show?" I ask and she winks. "That would be telling." I laugh and my phone bleeps;

From Samuel:  
>Hey, is everything ok?<p>

I smile and look out her window. She walks over to me and looks out. "What are you looking at?" I smile and point to my car, Samuel has the window down. "Can we open this?" She nods and we open it. "Ok, shout 'Larsen What's The Big Idea'?" She nods and I smile. "1, 2, 3... LARSEN WHATS THE BIG IDEA?" We shout and he almost hits his head off the roof of the car. The three of them look around and smile when they see us. "There's a door down there..." Rani says and points to the door. They get out and I smile. We close the window and hear a knock at the door. We walk down and Mrs O'Driscoll opens the door. "hey kids." She says and welcome's them in. Rani has a mini heart attack as they walk in and look at me. Samuel now has his hoodie on and his hair tied back. "Guys, this is my little half-sister Rani." I say and they smile at her. "Rani, this is Damian McGinty, Samuel Larsen and Lindsay Pearce." She awkwardly waves and her mum looks at the clock. "I'm going to leave you guys to it for a little while." She says and grabs her coat before walking out. I look at everyone. "I'll be two seconds." They nod and I follow her outside. I hug her and she smiles. "Thank you." I say and she nods. "Just don't lose contact with her." I smile. "Now that she knows who I am, I'm never going to leave her alone." I say with a smile and she nods before getting in her car.

I walk back in and Samuel is sitting looking at a CD and I sit beside Rani. "Usually. An older sister goes to college, comes back with a boyfriend, get pregnant, then has some kind of future. You come into my life when you are 18, you go to Los Angeles and come back with three other contestants from a show that is being broadcasted all over the world." I nod. "Just a typical days work." Lindsay says with a smile and I nod. "So, without being rude, does it run in the genes?" He asks and points to Rani's t-shirt. I look at her and she shakes her head. "Ugh, he hates rock music." I nod. "Good to know." I say and snatch the CD from Samuel's hand. "Oh, what's this?" I ask and she smiles. "It's the first Black Veil Brides album." I nod. "We Stitch These Wounds." I say with a smile. "Those were the days." I say and they nod. "What, before you had us to worry about?" Lindsay asks and I shrug. "No not worry about, just deal with." I say and pass Samuel back the CD.

"So, you want to do an interview for my website?" I nod. "Sure." I say and she walks upstairs to get a video camera. "So, at what point in the past seven weeks did I go deaf and miss the 'I have a half sister called Rani' story?" I smile and hit Sam. "I didn't want to tell anyone until I told her. She's really sweet." I say with a smile and she walks down. "Ok then." She says and sets the camera up in front of me and her.

"I am joined by Nicola McDowney of The Glee Project." She says and I smile. "And I am joined by my little sister, Rani O Driscoll." I say and hug her. "Yep, not awkward in here at all!" Damian shouts and I laugh. "And over there somewhere, Is Damian McGinty- "Halluh!" Samuel Larsen- "Hey Beautiful People." and Lindsay Pearce- "Hey Guys." she shouts and we get back to the video. "Ok, so guys, tell me, what has been your favourite performance so far?" We all look at each other and nod. "Rockability" We all shout at once and smile. "It was so fun." Lindsay says with a smile and I nod. "We performed one of my favourite mash ups from Glee ever." I say and Samuel nods. "I got 6 hot girls clawing all over me. Nothing wrong with that." Lindsay and I lean over and smack him. "Nicola, what are your favourite rock, screamo, electronica kind of bands?" She asks and Damian's raises his eyebrow. "Right, i'm irish and I have no clue what your on about!" I laugh. "It's different genres of rock. Anyway, I love Black Veil Brides, Falling In Reverse, Bullet For My Valentine, Alesana, The Pretty Reckless, VersaEmerge, Blood On The Dancefloor, Asking Alexandria, Guns N Roses, Metallica, I could go on..." I say and she smiles. "What about you guys? Do any of you like rock?" They nod. "Well, we all kind of like Black Veil Brides now." Sam says with a smile. "Oh My God Cameron is addicted!" Damian says and we all burst out laughing. "And it's just that one song to- Carolyn! He loves it." I smile. "What are your favourite Black Veil Brides songs?" I look at her. "Oh, tough, uhm, between The Morticians Daughter and Saviour." I say and she turns to Sam. "Somewhere between The Mortician's daughter and Beautiful Remains." Lindsay smiles. "Ritual." She says confidently and turns to Damian. "Awk, that one with the shit scary scream at the beginning!" We nod. "Perfect Weapon." I say and he nods. "Aye, I love it, but that scream gets me everytime." He says and I move slightly. "You ok?" She asks me and I nod. "Yeah, my back just a little sore." I say and she nods. "That's because she isn't lying on Samuel." I snap my head around to look at Lindsay. "yeah, by 9pm they have usually lay on each other for about an hour." I laugh and we move on to more questions.

"One last thing, are any of you guys dating? Honestly?" We laugh. "No, we're all single except for Cameron." Lindsay says with a smile. "Well, I think we'll leave it there." We smile. "Bye guys!" We shout and she turns it off. A car pulls up and she nods. "It's probably mum." I nod. "We better get going anyway." I say and hug her. "It was nice, finally meeting you." I nod. "And you Rani." I say and kiss her forehead. She hugs the three of them and Samuel holds up his phone to take a picture of me and Rani. We smile and he takes it and nods. I say goodbye again and we open the door to him. Samuel puts a protective arm around me and he looks at Samuel. "Good night, Mr O'Driscoll." I say and walk away. We get towards my car and Samuel kisses my hair. We get in and I nod. "Done." I say and smile at them. "He isn't part of me anymore." I say with a huge smile and Samuel is looking at the picture of me and Rani. "She is though. She's my little sis, and I love her." I say and start driving home.


	66. Chapter 66

We start getting ready for the party. I grab a black dress and put it on along with a white rib cage 'n' heart necklace. I fix my hair and Lindsay walks in while putting more hairspray in her hair. We hear a knock and I smile. "Come in." I say and apply a layer of black eyeliner. Samuel walks in and nods. "Are you two done painting yourselves?" He asks while sitting up on my bed. "Almost." I say and put the bracelets on my arm while my phone bleeps.

FROM: Sophie

Can't wait to see you tonight bitch. Party will be heading over to Crosh within two hours- Mainstreamers have tipped off the cops so Jake will probably have to shut shop in a few, but i'm sure you haven't forgotten the addresses (;

I nod and look up at Lindsay and Sam. "The party has already been tipped off to the police by mainst- others in the town. It'll probably close up within two hours and it'll move over to an alternative rock club later tonight. I'm not forcing you to go there, just letting you know." I say and put my phone in my bag. "So now what?" I shrug. "Now, we go to the house party." I say and grab my keys while Damian meets us in the hall. "See you later." I say to my parents and Samuel puts his hand on my hip. "Have fun." I smile. "Bye!" We shout back and walk out. I start the car and quickly zoom up the lane and to Jake's. We get out and music is already blaring. We get to the door and are greeted by Jake and a tray of shots. He smiles and I grab one. I swallow it and slap the glass back on his tray. "Come on guys!" I say and they nod and each in turn do them. They smile and Samuel moves towards my ear. "I didn't think this would be your kind of music!" He shouts and I smile. "It's not." I say and grab a beer off a girl in neon shorts. I walk through and see some old friends. I hug them and they smile. I smile and turn back to Samuel, Lindsay and Damian. "You guys ok?" I ask and they nod. I smile. "Yeah, i'm going to go dance." Lindsay says and walks aay with Damian following her. Sam smiles at me and I half nod. "What do you want to do?" He shrugs and someone passes him a beer. "Well i'm going into alt, so it's up to you." I nod. "I'll follow you." He says and I smile. "Sure." I say and go under the yellow 'CRIME SCENE' tape. He follows me and we hear the roars of Black Veil Brides' Perfect Weapon. I see Daniel and sit down beside Sophie. "Hey bitch." She says with a smile and I nod. "Hey." I say and clink bottles with her. She looks up at Sam. "And you, can take a seat, right here." She says and points to inbetween us on the sofa.

1 Hour, 30 Minutes Later.

We get off the dancefloor and I smile at Sam. "Y'know, for some crazy, alternative thing going on in here, it's pretty cool." He says with a smile and I hug him while a siren starts outside. The music is pulled and Jake turns around. "YOU KNOW THE DRILL!" He shouts and I look at Sam and grab his hand. "Come on!" I say and we go to find Lindsay and Damian. We run out before the police come in and I look at them. "Ok, what do you want to do?" They shrug. "Go to that other place?" I nod. "Sure." I say and get in my car. I see Daniel and Karla get in his car and we pull out. "This place, it's complete and utter rock." I say and they nod. "I'm sure we can handle it." Damian says and I nod. "Ok." I smile and we pull up. We get out and walk up. "You here for Jake?" I nod. "Of course." I say with a smile and the bouncer lets us in. We get some drinks and float around. I sit with my friend Sophie while Samuel talks to someone about his band. "So, you told them about what you did to Daniel?" I shake my head. "Why would I bring that up?" They shrug. "They know about your dad, about Rani, why not just tell them?" I shrug. "Samuel had his heartbroken, I don't want him thinking I broke someones." She nods and I turn around to see Damian staring at me. He walks off and I follow him. We end up outside and I pull him back. "WHAT THE HELL?" He shouts and I look at him. "You heard wrong." I say and he shakes his head. "No, i'm sure I heard perfectly fine!" Samuel and Lindsay run up behind us with Karla and I look at her. "What do you want?" I ask and she shrugs. "I just want to see you work your way out of this." Sam looks at me confused. "Out of what?" He asks and Damian waves his hands about. "She broke Daniel's heart!" He shouts and I look at them all, instantly hurt. "I'm going inside." I say after a few minutes of silence. "You're not even going to try?" Karla asks and I laugh. "Why should I? I've had a fucked up life this far- why wouldn't they believe it?" I ask and walk past her and inside. "How about you do us a little set?" Jake asks while handing me a shot. I take it and nod. "Sure." I get up on stage and smile as he takes place with a guitar. I smile and look at the crowd- the four of them stood in the back row.


	67. Chapter 67

"Goodevening Crosh." I say with a smile. "I think it's time for us to mosh." I say and laugh. "I'm Back" I start and thud forward.

_I heard a knock upon my door the other day, _  
><em>I opened it to find death staring in my face, <em>  
><em>The feel of mortal stalking still reverberates, <em>  
><em>Everywhere I go I drag this coffin just in case.<em>

_My bodies tremblin' sends shivers down my spine, _  
><em>Adrenaline kicks in shifts into overdrive, <em>  
><em>Your secrets keep you sick your lies keep you alive, <em>  
><em>Snake eyes every single time you roll with crooked dice, <em>

_I felt the darkness as it tried to pull me down, _  
><em>The kind of dark that haunts a hundred year old house, <em>  
><em>I wrestle with my thoughts I shook the hand of doubt, <em>  
><em>Running from my past I'm praying feet don't fail me now! <em>

_I've lost my god damn mind, _  
><em>It happens all the time, <em>  
><em>I can't believe I'm actually, <em>  
><em>Meant to be here, <em>  
><em>Trying to consume, <em>  
><em>The drug in me is you <em>  
><em>And I'm so high on misery <em>  
><em>Can't you see! <em>

_I got these questions always running through my head, _  
><em>So many things that I would like to understand, <em>  
><em>If we are born to die and we all die to live, <em>  
><em>Then what's the point of living life if it just contradicts? <em>

_I felt the darkness as it tried to pull me down, _  
><em>The kind of dark that haunts a hundred year old house, <em>  
><em>I wrestle with my thoughts I shook the hand of doubt, <em>  
><em>Running from my past I'm praying feet don't fail me now! <em>

_I've lost my god damn mind, _  
><em>It happens all the time, <em>  
><em>I can't believe I'm actually, <em>  
><em>Meant to be here! <em>  
><em>Trying to consume, <em>  
><em>The drug in me is you <em>  
><em>And I'm so high on misery <em>  
><em>Can't you see! <em>

_I've lost _  
><em>Myself <em>  
><em>You tried to reach me but you just can't help me! <em>  
><em>So long! <em>  
><em>Goodbye! <em>  
><em>You tried to save me it wont work this time! <em>

_'Cause now, _

_I've lost my fucking mind, _  
><em>And there's no fucking time! <em>  
><em>I can't believe I'm actually, <em>  
><em>Meant to be here! <em>  
><em>Trying to consume, <em>  
><em>The drug in me is you <em>  
><em>And I'm so high on misery <em>  
><em>Can't you see? <em>  
><em>Can't you see?<em>

I belt and drop my head with a smile. The crowd cheers and Samuel stands speechless with Lindsay and Damian. I turn around and smile at Jake. "You all know i've always been a fan of bad guys..." I say with a smile.

_So why do good girls like bad guys?_  
><em>I had this question for a real long time<em>  
><em>I've been a bad boy and it's plain to see<em>  
><em>So why do good girls fall in love with me?<em>

_Whoa oooh ohhh Whoa oooh ohhh Whoa oooh ohhh Whoa oooh ohhh_

_You've got pep in your step _  
><em>You live your life with no regret<em>  
><em>How you look when you are wet<em>  
><em>Is something I can't forget<em>  
><em>I just wanna kiss your lips<em>  
><em>The ones between your hips<em>  
><em>If I cash in all my chips on you<em>  
><em>Then baby I'd be rich<em>

_So come on_  
><em>Sexy, please text me<em>  
><em>I'm ready for you<em>  
><em>So come on<em>  
><em>Waiting, I'm begging<em>  
><em>So please get here soon<em>

_So why do good girls like bad guys?_  
><em>I had this question for a real long time<em>  
><em>I've been a bad boy and it's plain to see<em>  
><em>So why do good girls fall in love with me?<em>

_Whoa oooh ohhh Whoa oooh ohhh Whoa oooh ohhh Whoa oooh ohhh_

_Ooo lala, What lovely curves_  
><em>Baby I get off by getting you off first<em>  
><em>Sorry girl if this is quick<em>  
><em>So please just take it in the *** and suck my ****<em>

_So come on_  
><em>Sexy, please text me<em>  
><em>I'm ready for you<em>  
><em>So come on<em>  
><em>Waiting, I'm begging<em>  
><em>So please get here soon<em>

_So why do good girls like bad guys?_  
><em>I had this question for a real long time<em>  
><em>I've been a bad boy and it's plain to see<em>  
><em>So why do good girls fall in love with me?<em>

_Whoa oooh ohhh Whoa oooh ohhh Whoa oooh ohhh Whoa oooh ohhh_

_Guitar! _

_So why do good girls like bad guys?_  
><em>I had this question for a real long time<em>  
><em>I've been a bad boy and it's plain to see<em>  
><em>So why do good girls fall in love with me?<em>

_So why do good girls like bad guys?_  
><em>I had this question for a real long time<em>  
><em>I've been a bad boy and it's plain to see<em>  
><em>So why do good girls fall in love with me?<em>

_So why do good girls like bad guys? _  
><em>(I wanna know, I need to know! )<em>  
><em>So why do good girls like bad guys?<em>  
><em>(So come on I gotta know, I need to know! )<em>  
><em>So come on I gotta know, <em>  
><em>So come on tell me!<em>

I smile and look at Daniel.  
><em>Bitch you gave me the fucking clap! <em>

I say with a smile and he looks down.

They cheer again and I nod. "One more song." I say with a smile.

"I'M NOT A VAMPIRE. I'M NOT A VAMPIRE. I'M NOT A VAMPIRE. I'M NOT A VAMPIRE." They chant.

I nod. "Did I ever tell you guys, about that one time, when I felt, like a vampire?" I ask and they cheer.

_Well I'm not a vampire_  
><em>But I feel like one<em>  
><em>Sometimes I sleep all day<em>  
><em>Because I hate the sun-light<em>  
><em>My hands are always shaking<em>  
><em>Bodies always aching<em>  
><em>In the darkness when I feed<em>

_Well I can lure any woman that I want to in my bed_  
><em>With me<em>  
><em>And Whiskey seems to be my Holy Water<em>  
><em>Mothers better lock your doors<em>  
><em>And hide your daughters<em>

_I'm insane! _  
><em>Well, I can feel it in my bones! <em>  
><em>Coursing through my veins! <em>  
><em>When did I become so cold?<em>

_For goodness sake! _  
><em>Where is my self control?<em>  
><em>If home is where my heart is<em>  
><em>Then my heart has lost all hope<em>

_Well I'm not a zombie_  
><em>But I feel like one today! <em>  
><em>Sell me pills, Comatose! <em>  
><em>Chemical daze! <em>  
><em>[ Lyrics from: . ]<em>  
><em>My head is always spinning<em>  
><em>From this dizzy blurry vision<em>  
><em>And my stomach has had enough! <em>  
><em>I feel like a lady<em>  
><em>That is pregnant with a baby<em>  
><em>Cause I'm always throwing up! <em>

_Hi, My name is Nicola! _  
><em>I'm an addict! <em>  
>"HEY NICOLA!"<br>_Daddy should've never raised me on Black Sabbath! _

_I'm insane! _  
><em>Well, I can feel it in my bones! <em>  
><em>Coursing through my veins! <em>  
><em>When did I become so cold?<em>

_For goodness sake! _  
><em>Where is my self control?<em>  
><em>If home is where my heart is<em>  
><em>Then my heart has lost all hope<em>

_God bless all of you now! _  
><em>Cause I'm going straight to Hell! <em>  
><em>And I'm taking you down with me! <em>  
><em>Cause you know damn well, <em>

_I'm insane! _  
><em>Well, I can feel it in my bones! <em>  
><em>Coursing through my veins! <em>  
><em>When did I become so cold?<em>

_I'm insane! _  
><em>Well, I can feel it in my bones! <em>  
><em>Coursing through my veins! <em>  
><em>When did I become so cold?<em>

_For goodness sake! _  
><em>Where is my self control?<em>  
><em>If home is where my heart is<em>  
><em>Then my heart has lost all hope<em>

I smile and Jake nods towards the back door. I nod back and turn back around to the cheering crowd. "So, who's next?" I ask and Jade takes the mic from me and I follow Jake out the back. "I forgot how good you were." I smile. "Well, i'm on TV every week." I smile and he nods. "Yeah, but you're singing showtunes." I shrug. "I like them too." He nods. "I remember." I nod and we sit on a wall. "I missed you." I smile. "I missed you too." He takes a cigarette from his pocket and offers me it. "I don't." He nods. "It's a spliff." I laugh. "I never did." I smile and he lights it up for himself.


	68. Chapter 68

He leans against the other part of the wall and I rub my shoulder. I look at him and he giggles. "Don't get too high." I say and check my phone. 1:39am. I go on twitter and check Samuel's last tweet.

"That Moment, When You Realise, That Even The Person Who Tried The Hardest, Is Just Like The Rest." I nod and Daniel comes outside. "What do you want?" Jake ask while putting his cigarette out. "I wanted to talk to you." He says to me and I shake my head. "No, you don't get to talk to me." I say and he shrugs. "Why not?" I look at him and he half smiles.

"Because of you, all my friends, and everyone I care about, thinks I broke your heart." I say and Karla walks out. "You did." Karla says and I shake my head. "No, you broke mine." I say and a tear rolls down my cheek. "So you don't get to talk to me. I stood up for you two like a fool and took the blame. You acted damaged, because for once in my pathetic life, I wanted to be the one who came out the otherside stronger, not that it happened. I'm still as broken and damaged as I was that day, well I was. I finally started feeling good again when I went into that house and met those 11 people. I gave up all my friends for you. Just because I cared. All my former friends call me 'Bitch' now. I hate that. I want to be called by my name, not what they think I am. I am SICK of labels. You broke my heart. Mine. I didn't break yours, you still had someone there for you, now, I have no one." I say and Jake shrugs. "You want to get out of here?" I nod. "Yeah." I say and he puts an arm around me. "You don't get to own me anymore." I say to Daniel and we turn around to walk away. Lindsay, Damian and Samuel stare at me. "You shouldn't just judge. It's not always what you think." I say and Jake gives me his jacket as we get towards the party bus. "Your car!" Karla shouts back and I lift my keys from my pocket. I throw them on to the ground in front of Samuel. "Just don't kill yourselves." I say and get in.

Someone hands me a beer and I drink it while the bus moves and goes towards the hill. We party there for an hour and then they drop me off. I see my car in the driveway and nod. They got home then. I walk in and set my bag on the kitchen table. I walk into my room and the three of them look at me. I lift pyjamas from the drawer and set them on the table beside the mirror. I take off my necklace and set it down. "Are you even going to let us apologise?" Lindsay asks and I grab a blanket from my cupboard. "You don't need to apologise." I say and they half smile. I walk towards them and grab a pillow from my bed. "Goodnight." I say and walk towards the living room. I throw the pillow on the green sofa and put the blanket over myself. I turn off the light and just lie there. Somebody knocks the wall and I just stay there. "What?" I ask and hear someone step forward. "I'm sorry." Samuel says and I look at him. "Now that you've cleared your conscience, you can go to bed." I say and turn away from him. "Nic-" I pull the blanket tighter around me. "Goodnight Samuel." I say and I fall asleep.


End file.
